Altruism
by CrazyMage Cameron
Summary: Inspired by Izuku's Hero Analysis notebooks. What if, after being told he was Quirkless, Izuku threw himself into researching Heroes, Villains, and their Quirks in great detail? He figured that even if he couldn't become a Hero himself, then maybe he could use his knowledge to support them. What happens when he gets to be a hero and still has this knowledgeable, helpful attitude?
1. Chapter 1

**This is my first real attempt at writing fanfiction, so I apologize for any issues or for it just plain sucking. I intend for this to be a rather long, detailed story. At first it will be very similar to the original (with small, somewhat subtle changes), but as time goes on I'm hoping that it will branch out and eventually become something original and spectacular. One thing I especially hope to do correctly in this story is relationships (romantic or otherwise). Just like in real life, just because some people in this story flirt or gain feelings for another character doesn't mean that they will end up falling in love and getting it right on the first try. Not to say it won't happen, because it may, but at the very least the majority of such relationships won't be quite so straightforward. I welcome any and all constructive criticism, and I am open to suggestions. Feel free to leave reviews.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own My Hero Academia or any of the characters.**

* * *

 _"Did you see that!? He has already saved 100 people! It didn't even take 10 minutes! Really, what a monster!"_ a man's voice cried, the sound echoing throughout the room as a video played on a computer screen, showing footage of a scene that looked as if it came straight from hell. _"He's laughing!"_ the voice called out again, and laughter could indeed be heard. A loud, wonderful laugh that should normally never be heard at such a horrible scene.

Suddenly, a muscular man in a costume could be seen stepping upon an overturned bus, multiple civilians held in his arms and across his shoulders. The video zooms in on the man's face, a huge smile on his face despite the destruction around him.

 _"It's fine now!"_ the man called out in a booming voice, _"Why? Because I am here!"_

The video stopped there, the man still smiling on the computer screen. The smile that the green-haired young boy sitting in front of the screen had seen a thousand times before. The smile that had always inspired him to be a Hero.

A smile that Izuku Midoriya was trying to wear on his own face. However, instead of that strong smile that he had always seen on the man on the screen, the one worn by the man called All Might, instead of the smile worn by the Number One Hero…..there was only a broken imitation, his face marred by tears and redness from hours of crying.

He had always dreamed of being a Hero, of being someone who could help others while wearing a smile on his face, just as All Might does in the video. He had dreamed of the day he would awaken his quirk, hoping that when that day came he would have a Quirk like All Might's, a Quirk that would let him be the Hero he wanted to be.

That day, however, would never come. His dream would never become reality.

He was Quirkless.

The very thought caused his tears to flow even more fiercely than they had for the last few hours, just as they had when his mother had been in there earlier and had started apologizing over and over again to her 4 year old son when he had asked her if he could be an amazing Hero someday, trying to hold onto his dream.

Izuku didn't want her to say that. Didn't want her to apologize. He…he wanted her to tell him that he could become a Hero.

With a trembling hand, Izuku moved the computer mouse and pressed play on the video for what was probably the hundredth time in the last few hours, and just like every other time he had done it, more tears burst forth and poured down his face.

* * *

Izuku Midoriya, now 14 years old, did his best to push through the crowd of people around him, all of them watching on as a large monster tried to swipe at a man who looked to be covered in wood but only managing to damage the train station it was standing on. As Izuku was pushing through the dense crowd, he heard bits and pieces of conversation.

"….impressive Quirk to be able to transform into a monster…"

"….just a handbag thief who is lashing out now that he's been cornered."

"…yes, I don't know when I'll arrive at the office…"

Finally reaching the front of the crowd, Izuku quickly brought out a rather thick notebook labeled "Quirk Analysis #53" and opened it up to the section he used for the Quirks of Villains. He quickly jotted down a description of the Villain, making note of the large increase to his size and physical strength, not realizing that he was letting out all of his thoughts in an extremely fast mumble. He was brought out of his thoughts when a man standing to his left called out to him.

"Hey kid, you alright over there? You're kind of scaring me, ya know? Besides, you keep that up and you're gonna miss the fight! The woodsman there looks like he's about to show us some big moves!" the man said, grinning at the green haired boy.

Izuku gave the man a brilliant smile, looking like it might split his face if it grew any wider. "That's Kamui Woods, a young talent who's been experiencing an enormous amount of popularity lately! He can use his Quirk, Arbor, to generate and control wood from his body!"

The man crossed his arms, grinning at the boy's enthusiasm. "You sure seem to know a lot about him, eh? You must be quite the fan!"

"Ah, well actually…"Izuku began, only to trail off from his response when he saw Kamui Woods getting ready to make his move. "Here it is! Lacquered Chain Prison!" the boy cried out as he saw a multitude of tendrils shoot out from Kamui Woods and start to wrap around the Villain. Before they could finish, a large foot suddenly planted itself in the Villains face and sent him falling backwards and crushing more of the station. Standing over the now unconscious (and slowly shrinking) Villain was a woman nearly twice the size of the already monstrous villain.

"Hi!" the giant woman called out. "I just started today! I am called Mount Lady! Pleased to make your acquaintance!" She then began to deactivate her Quirk, shrinking just as the villain did.

Before she had even finished shrinking, Izuku already had his notebook out and was making a new entry in the Hero section for this Mt. Lady, mumbling about her Quirk. The man who had spoken to Izuku earlier merely shook his head and told him to work hard and give everything he had in his attempt to be a Hero, figuring that the boy wanted to be one with how enthusiastic he was about them. As he turned away, the man didn't see Izuku gain a pained look on his face and falter for a moment in his writing. Even after all these years, it still pained Izuku to know that no matter how much he wanted to, he could never be a Hero. Shaking his head as if to clear it of such thoughts, Izuku closed his notebook and turned away from the scene in front of him where Mt. Lady was being interviewed while the Villain was taken into the custody of the police. Checking the time on his phone, Izuku saw that he would need to hurry or he would be late for school.

* * *

Izuku kept his head down and focused on his notebook, going over the entries he had made in it earlier for Mt. Lady and that Villain. He was doing his best to ignore the yelling of several of his classmates, having been riled up by their teacher talking about how nearly all of them had good quirks and were aiming to become Heroes. The loudest being a boy with ash blond, spiky hair known as Katsuki Bakugou, or 'Kacchan' as Izuku had always called him ever since the time they had been friends as kids.

That was before Izuku was labeled as Quirkless.

Ever since then….well, Kacchan really didn't consider him a friend anymore, to put it nicely. Nobody else considered him a friend either, whether it be because he was Quirkless or because they were afraid that befriending him would upset Kacchan. In fact, most of the other kids barely even considered him to be a classmate. Speaking of classmates…

Everyone was quiet now, staring right at him. Then, as if a switch had been flipped, most of them started laughing and pointing at him.

"D-did I d-do something?" Izuku stammered, face turning red in embarrassment from their laughter.

"Seriously, Midoriya? You? That's just impossible!" yelled one laughing boy, his neck elongated thanks to his Quirk.

"As if some Quirkless nerd could be a Hero!" yelled another student, a slightly pudgy girl with horns on her head.

"Do you really think someone as worthless as _you_ could ever make it into U.A.?" yelled another boy, causing another round of laughter.

Before Izuku could do more than stammer out some incoherent explanation, small popping sounds echoed throughout the room, silencing everyone as they turned to look at who they knew to be the source. Sure enough, when Izuku slowly turned his head towards the sound his green eyes met the sharp red eyes of Kacchan. The boy looked angry, even more so than usual, and had small explosions going off around his hands as he glared at Izuku.

"K-Kacchan, I-" Izuku stammered, but before he could even finish his sentence Kacchan was in front of him and the next thing Izuku knew, he was slumped up against the wall with the smoking remains of his desk scattered around him while Kacchan stood over him.

"You don't even have a weak Quirk," Kacchan yelled in anger, a slightly crazed grin on his face, "you're Quirkless! Are you really stupid enough to try and enter the same arena as me, huh?!

Taking a deep breath, Izuku held a hand up towards Kacchan and tried to explain himself. "I-I don't intend to compete with you, Kacchan! Really! I just…" Izuku trailed off, not knowing quite what to say. He wasn't even entirely sure why he had signed up for the U.A. entrance exam. It was considered to be the top Hero Academy in Japan, perhaps even the best in the world. Izuku himself idolized the place, it was even where All Might went to school. Someone like him, who didn't even have a Quirk, would never be able to get in. He knew that, and yet…he felt like he had to at least try. To not do so would be to truly give up on his dream of being a Hero.

Realizing that he had gotten lost in thought, Izuku looked up and saw that everyone was still looking down on him, while Kacchan looked like he was ready to let off a few more explosions. Before anything more could be said, the school's bell began to ring, letting everyone know that they could go home for the day. Izuku gave a sigh of relief when he saw that everyone decided to just grab their stuff and start to leave, even Kacchan (though Izuku could have sworn he heard Kacchan call him "Quirkless, shitty Deku" as he turned away). Standing up, Izuku dusted off his clothes and looked around at the remains of his desk. Sighing at the fact that yet another desk was destroyed (the third this semester), he picked up his school bag that had, thankfully, come out unscathed. Looking around, he also saw his notebook lying on the ground and picked it up as well.

"Hey, Deku!"

Spinning around, Izuku saw Kacchan standing at the door with a smirk on his face. Standing behind him just outside of the classroom were two of his friends, both boys looking at Izuku as if he was a piece of garbage.

"Give up on U.A., you dirty nerd!" Kacchan continued. "Though I forgot to mention something earlier. There actually _is_ a method for you to become a Hero. I hear that if you pray really hard and jump from the roof, you'll have a Quirk in your next life!" he finished, laughing along with his friends as he slid the door shut, leaving Izuku alone.

Biting his cheek, Izuku clenched the notebook in his hands and tried to calm himself from the mixture of anger and sadness that welled up within him. After a few moments, he was able to calm down enough to realize that he was starting to crush his notebook. Quickly loosening his grip, Izuku smoothed out the notebook and stared at the "#53" written on the cover.

 _#53, huh… maybe I've given up, after all. Maybe signing up for U.A. was just meant to be the final nail in the coffin._

Izuku strapped on his school bag and made his way out of the school, still staring at the notebook in his hands as he began to make the walk home, barely paying heed to his surroundings. As he walked, he thought back to when he first started with his Quirk Analysis notebooks. It had begun only a couple of months after he had found out that he was Quirkless, starting off as something to help keep his mind off of the fact that he could never be a Hero. At first he would only look at the Quirks of Heroes, making notes about what they did, how they worked, how the each Hero used them…stuff like that. Eventually, though, Izuku started to go more and more in depth with his notes, eventually writing everything about the Quirks and the people using them, all the way down to the tiniest detail. By that point, he had decided that even if he couldn't be a Hero who would go out and help people, that didn't mean he couldn't use his knowledge to help the actual Heroes so that they could help people in his stead. For this reason, he spent years researching all the information he could about every Hero and Villain he could find. For the Villains, he would fill up the pages with weaknesses, possible countermeasures, and even listed which particular Heroes and Quirks would be ideal for putting a stop to them. For the Heroes, he would sit around for hours and come up with new ways that they could use their Quirks, how they could be helpful in different situations, and countless other little details. The result of his efforts were 53 thick notebooks full of information on Heroes, Villains, and their Quirks. Izuku was rather proud of the fact that he had most of the information committed to memory, thanks to him always reading through them and making sure the notes for each one stayed up to date.

He was proud of his efforts, but…he couldn't deny that they were also a symbol of him giving up on being a Hero. The notebooks were written in the hopes that one day he could help people by helping the Heroes, rather than him being a Hero himself. His signing up for the U.A. entrance exam was merely one final, desperate attempt at fulfilling the dream he'd had since he was young.

Tearing himself out of his thoughts, Izuku looked around to see how close he was to being home, having not paid much attention thus far. Noting that he wasn't too far away from his home, Izuku stepped into a small tunnel that he always passed through on his way home. About halfway through, however, he heard an odd plopping sound behind him. Turning around, Izuku barely had time to see the giant eyes and teeth of some sort of sludge monster before it wrapped its body around him, causing him to sink into the sludge and choke as it began to force its way into his mouth and nose.

 _A Villain?!_ Izuku wanted to scream out, unable to do so due to the Villain trying to drown him with the sludge. Through his panic, Izuku could barely hear the Villain talk about how the pain would disappear after 45 seconds and how ' _he'_ was in this town. Izuku thought the Villain might have said more, but his vision was beginning to blur and his awareness was wavering due to lack of oxygen.

 _I can't breathe! I'll…I'll die at this rate…help me, please! Someone…I don't…want…to die…_

"Do not worry, kid!" a strong voice yelled, cutting through the haze that had fallen upon Izuku's mind. "I am here!"

Izuku couldn't quite see what was happening thanks to his vision being so blurry, but even in a situation such as this he would always recognize that voice. "Texas…Smash!" the voice yelled, the iconic phrase confirming the man's identity. Suddenly, Izuku felt a large burst of wind and was dropped to his knees as the Villain was forced to release him from its hold. Izuku's body greedily took in the air it craved so desperately, and just as he felt his eyelids begin to close while his body fell to the side, only one thought went through Izuku's mind.

 _All Might! Gotta get…his autograph…_

* * *

"Kid!" the massive form of All Might stood above Izuku as the boy slowly opened his eyes. Realizing who was in front of him, Izuku shot up from his position on the ground and stood on unsteady legs. "Thank God! You seem to be doing well! That is what's important here!" All Might continued, the huge smile he was so well known for plastered on his face. "I'm really sorry for all of this! I don't usually make such mistakes, but this time it seems that you got involved with my removal of the Villain!" he said, striking a slightly embarrassed pose and letting out a laugh that lifted Izuku's spirits. The boy could see two soda bottles in All Might's pockets (only now realizing that the man was in a casual outfit of shorts and a white T-shirt, rather than in his costume), looking like they had been filled with the sludge of the Villain. Coming to his senses, though still in awe of the man before him, his _idol_ , Izuku began looking around for the notebook he'd been holding before the Villain had attacked him. Finding it and beginning to open it up to a blank page, Izuku began speaking rapidly.

"C-can I have your autograph…? Please!" he all but yelled, only to open his notebook up to a page that already had his Hero's autograph. "Already signed?! Wow! Thank you very much! This will be made an heirloom of my family! A treasure!" Izuku then began bowing so low that his head was nearly touching the ground. Looking up, he saw All Might saying goodbye and preparing to leap away. Panicking at the sight of the No.1 Hero already leaving, Izuku ran forward.

"Wait! I have to ask you something…!" the boy yelled, trying to reach the Hero before he could leave.

"I am counting on your support!" All Might yelled, releasing the power he had built up in his legs and launching himself into the air. Feeling an odd tug on his left leg, All Might looked down and was shocked to see the green-haired boy there, hanging onto his leg for dear life.

"Huh? No! Let me go! Are you out of your mind?!" the Hero called out, shaking his leg a bit. _My fans can be really scary,_ he thought.

"If I let go now…I'll fall…I'll die! I'll seriously die!" Izuku called out, panic on his face. He hadn't even really meant to grab onto All Might, his body had just moved on its own when he realized the man was going to leave before Izuku was able to ask him an extremely important question.

"Indeed! I understand, so hold on tight!" All Might called out, turning his face away from the boy and giving a slight cough into his hand. _Shit, my time limit…_

* * *

"That was…so scary…"said Izuku muttered, kneeling on the roof of the building All Might had landed on.

"I really have no time to lose, so I'll leave you here!" called out the Hero, walking towards the edge of the roof.

"Wait!" Izuku called out, scrambling to his feet. "I, uh…"

"No! I can't wait!"

"Can I become a Hero…can I become a Hero who helps people, even without a Quirk?"

Stopping in his attempt to leave, All Might turned to look back at the boy. He looked to be doing everything he could to hold back tears, even screwing his eyes shut.

After asking that question to All Might, to the man he looked up to more than anyone else in the world, Izuku found that he couldn't bring himself to look at the man. Years and years of shame and disappointment suddenly rose to the surface, threatening to overwhelm the boy. Deciding to finally just let it all out, words spilled forth like water breaking through a dam.

"For my entire life, all I've ever wanted was to be a Hero, to help people…to be like you. I just want to help people, but no matter what I do…no matter what I do, people just laugh at me. They've always told me that because I'm Quirkless, I'll never be able to be a Hero. I…I don't really know why, but ever since I was little, I've always thought that it would be…that it would be amazing, to just reach out and save people the way you do. To save people with a smile that knows no fear!"

After hearing no response from All Might for a few seconds after his declaration, Izuku finally opened his eyes and looked up.

…All Might was gone.

Where he had stood earlier, there was now a very skinny man in baggy clothes sitting on the ground. As the man stared at Izuku, the boy's thoughts slowed to a halt. This man…who was he? Why did he resemble All Might? He was even…wearing the same clothes…

"Are you…an All Might impostor?" Izuku asked weakly.

"I am All Might," the skinny man said. He then proceeded to spout a considerable amount of blood from his mouth.

"I don't believe you!" Izuku denied instantly, carefully ignoring the fact that this man just sprayed blood from his mouth. He should probably be more concerned, but he could only deal with so many problems at a time, and today had been a _really_ long day.

"A smile that knows no fear, huh…?" All Might said with a sigh. "Sorry kid, but as you can see, things are a bit different in reality than they are on the internet." Raising his shirt, All Might revealed a sight that made Izuku a little nauseous. There, on the chest of the No.1 Hero, was a horrible scar. It covered the majority of the left side of All Might's chest, with a focal point that looked as if something had pierced his chest. "This wound…I got it five years ago when I was attacked by a Villain. The result was the semi-destruction of my respiratory system and the total removal of my stomach. My face is emaciated and haggard; even the shadowy quality of my eyes is a side effect of repeated surgeries. With these wounds…I can't actively work as a hero more than about three hours a day. In other words, this is my limit."

Trying to come to terms with everything All Might just told him, Izuku stood there in silence. Deciding to think about All Might's injuries later once he had more time to consider what he had been told, Izuku looked at the man he idolized above all others and decided to ask one more question.

"Who was the Villain? The most notable Villain you fought five years ago was Toxic Chainsaw, but…but your wound doesn't look like anything he could have done."

"You're right, it wasn't him. The one who did this to me…well, that doesn't matter anymore," All Might said evasively, standing up. "By the way, what I just told you was never made known to the public. I must ask that you not reveal any of what I told you to anyone, please." Turning his head to look out over the city, All Might gave a small sigh and clenched his fists. "The "Symbol of Peace" is one who saves people with a smile and a laugh…that's how the people see me. For the sake of all, that image must be maintained. However, if I laugh…it is just to distract me from the fear and pressure of being that Symbol of Peace." All Might didn't have to look at the young boy to know that he would be shocked to hear that even his idol felt fear. Knowing that he had to answer the boy's original question, and that he had to answer it in a way that would keep the boy from putting himself in danger, All Might braced himself for what he had to say to protect this boy, even if it crushed his spirit.

"Heroes must always be ready to put themselves at risk. I'm sorry, but I can't say that you can be a Hero without having the ability to protect yourself. If you want to help people, there are many ways to do that even without being a Hero. You could become a policeman, or perhaps a doctor." As he said these things, All Might began walking towards the door that lead inside the building. All the while, he couldn't bring himself to look at the boy whom he was certain he had crushed the spirit of.

Izuku watched his idol walk away and close the door behind him, leaving Izuku alone on the roof, the parting words of not only All Might swimming in his head, but Kacchan's as well.


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks to those who have already shown interest in this story. To be honest, I figured I wouldn't get so much as ten views for a few days at least, so I definitely wasn't expecting follows and favorites (and even a few short reviews) within a few hours after posting the story. Hopefully I don't disappoint you all going forward! Also, I'm having problems with the fanfiction site screwing up my format so I apologize if that happens and will try to fix it the moment I see it.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own My Hero Academia or any of the characters.**

* * *

Izuku could feel a familiar wetness on his cheeks. A line of warmth that slowly crawled from his eyes down to his chin, growing heavy and then falling to the ground.

He had known what would happen. He had known it even before he had asked the question. So why?

Why did it hurt so much to hear that he couldn't be a Hero when he had already known what All Might would say? Izuku had known that he couldn't be a Hero for years now. He had even spent those years doing research in the hopes that one day he could support Heroes, knowing that he couldn't be one himself. He was too weak to be one, completely unable to protect anyone due to being Quirkless. For the most part he had come to accept this fact, knowing that attaining the title of 'Hero' was almost certainly impossible for him.

So why did it feel like he was four again, feeling just as he had that day he'd been sitting in front of his computer screen and watching a video of All Might saving people while he sat there with his dreams crashing down around him? Standing there on the rooftop where his idol had left him, Izuku Midoriya let out a scream. It was a guttural scream full of all the pain, anger, and shame he had felt and bottled up over the years whenever someone would make fun of him for being Quirkless, from all of the times his mother would sob and apologize to him, from every time Kacchan would bully him. He let all those pent up emotions tear away from him in one _horrible_ scream, until finally his lungs ran out of air and he dropped to his knees like a marionette cut from its strings. Turning his tear-stained face towards the sky, the boy stared blankly at the clouds above him as a memory slowly rose through the haze of his mind.

 _"…I forgot to mention something earlier. There actually is a method for you to become a Hero. I hear that if you pray really hard and jump from the roof, you'll have a Quirk in your next life!"_ Kacchan's words from earlier kept going through Izuku's mind. Over and over the words of the blond boy would run through his mind, followed by his laughter. Slowly, the laughter in his mind grew as Izuku remembered the laughter of everyone that had ever mocked him over the years for being Quirkless. Gripping his head in his hands, Izuku covered his ears as if he could somehow block out the laughter that was ringing through his mind.

The longer this went on, the more difficult it became for Izuku to draw breath. He felt as if there was some horrible, crushing weight settling upon him. The pain of it felt like he had suffered some terrible wound to his chest, one that would surely kill him if he didn't…

Izuku's eyes shot open, the laughter in his mind slowly dissipating and his breath coming easier. The thought of his pain being likened to a terrible chest wound had brought up a different image to his mind, a more literal wound that was on the chest of the No.1 Hero. A wound that, by all rights, should have stopped All Might from being a Hero.

 _And yet…he still presses on. Even if it's only for three hours a day, he does everything he can to save people, to be their Symbol of Peace. If it's to help others, he pushes past his own weakness and gives it his all to protect them._ Izuku clenched his fists at this, a sense of conviction slowly gripping him. _Even if I'm Quirkless, that doesn't mean I'm powerless! I can still make a difference with my research, I can still help save people even without being a Hero!_

His resolve strengthened, Izuku looked around for his bag so he could grab it and head home. Seeing it several feet away, he took a step away from the guardrail and froze before he could take another.

…guardrail?

Looking between his bag and the guardrail, Izuku gained a confused look upon his face. Why was he standing here? In fact, when did he even move away from his bag and walk all the way over here? He hadn't even realized the change in location when he had first opened his eyes. He vaguely remembered screaming and dropping to his knees, and then…and then he had remembered Kacchan's words from earlier when they were leaving the school. Stumbling away from the guardrail to stand by his bag, Izuku's face paled as he looked at where he had been standing in slight horror. Had he nearly…without even having been aware of his actions, did he try and…

Izuku shook his head violently, refusing to finish that line of thought. Grabbing his bag, Izuku rushed to the door All Might had gone through earlier and threw it open, leaving the roof without looking back.

* * *

Seeing a familiar scene before him, Izuku debated for a moment on if he was up to doing research right now. Similar to this morning, there was a large crowd gathered at the street ahead of him and he could see a few Heroes and police officers trying to keep the crowd out of harm's way. Izuku recognized the Heroes he could see and already had research on them, but judging from the sounds of explosions, there must be a rather powerful Villain wreaking havoc. Knowing he would be filled with regret later if he didn't at least check it out, Izuku sighed and began pushing his way through the crowd to a spot where he could get a look at the Villain.

When he finally caught sight of the Villain, Izuku was shocked to see that it was the same one that had tried to kill him earlier. _But that…that doesn't make any sense!_ Izuku thought. _All Might captured him already! Did he somehow escape the police? No, impossible! They're way too careful when securing the Villains that Heroes catch. So how…_ Izuku paled when he realized what must have happened.

It was his fault.

The Villain must have somehow gotten free because of him, back when he had selfishly delayed All Might from turning the Villain in just so that Izuku could ask a question.

"Why are the Heroes all just standing around and doing nothing to stop this guy?" asked a blond-haired man in front of Izuku.

"From what I have heard, some schoolboy was caught by the Villain and is being held hostage inside the sludge," replied a tall man standing next to him.

Overhearing what was said, Izuku's blood ran cold as he stared at the Villain as it rampaged. This, all of this, was entirely his fault. If he had just let All Might do his job as a Hero, none of this would have happened. If he hadn't screwed up, then that Villain wouldn't be free, those familiar sharp red eyes wouldn't be staring at him with a look of desperation…

"What the – hey! Stop!"

"You moron, what are you doing?!"

"Do you have some sort of death wish?!"

…and he wouldn't be running toward a Villain with no way to defend himself.

"Death by explosion, kid!" the Villain yelled with glee as he saw the boy approach, recognizing him from their meeting earlier in that tunnel.

Seeing the Villain preparing to attack him, Izuku did the only thing he could think of and swung his bag as hard as he could towards the only weakness he knew the Villain to have – its eyes. The bag hit the Villain in the right eye, causing it to recoil in pain and let out a shout. Not slowing down in the slightest, Izuku reached out and latched onto the boy who had been held hostage all this time.

"Kacchan!" he yelled, not even noticing as a smile began to form on his face.

"Why? Why are you here?!"

"I saw the look on your face…like it was calling for help, and…my body just moved on its own!" the green-haired boy yelled, desperately trying to pull Kacchan out of the Villain's grasp. "I'll get you out, I –"

"Get out of my way you little pest! Die!" yelled the Villain, reaching towards Izuku. His right arm began to sink into the sludge that made up the Villain's body, but just before he could sink into it very far there was suddenly a large hand gripping it tightly. The eyes of everyone present turned towards the owner of the hand, and were greeted with the sight of the No.1 Hero standing there with small wisps of smoke rolling off of his body and his legendary smile on his face.

"The lesson I left you with…how could I not remember that those words apply to myself as well?! A Hero must always be ready to put themselves at risk!" Though only Izuku could see it, a spurt of blood came from All Might's mouth as he said this. "Detroit…SMASH!" yelled the Hero, completely blowing the Villain away with the raw wind pressure that resulted from throwing a punch using his free hand, while at the same time pulling Izuku out of the way with the other. Kacchan was pulled free as well, Izuku still having had a grip on him when All Might pulled him away from the Villain.

"Rain?"

"What the…did All Might just…?"

"He changed the weather with a single punch!"

"As expected of the No.1 Hero, All Might!"

From where he was sitting on the ground after All Might had released his arm, Izuku found himself just as amazed as the rest of the crowd, if not more. Not only had his idol displayed his extreme power by changing the weather with a single punch, but thanks to their talk earlier Izuku also knew that the man had done so despite being past his limit. He had pushed aside his own weakness for the sake of saving someone, exactly as Izuku had known he would do.

 _Just as I will do,_ Izuku promised himself as a small, relieved smile came onto his face. Looking around, the green-haired boy saw several of the Heroes and some police officers gathering up the Villain's scattered body. A few feet to his left, he could see Kacchan sitting on the ground while a couple Heroes were loudly praising him for resisting the Villain for so long and for having such an impressive Quirk.

"Hey, kid!" came an angry voice from Izuku's right. Snapping his head towards the sound, the boy quickly lost his smile as he saw an extremely agitated man whom Izuku recognized as Death Arms, one of the Heroes that had been at the scene long before Izuku had arrived. Behind him stood another Hero by the name of Slugger, though Izuku couldn't be sure on whether or not the man was angry thanks to the white mask he wore as part of his costume.

"What in the world were you thinking?!" Death Arms yelled as he looked down at the boy. "There was absolutely no need to put yourself in danger! Do you realize how stupid it was of you to run in there? Had All Might not shown up, it's very likely that you would have died! Did you even…"

Izuku was kept there for another ten minutes, Death Arms lecturing him the entire time while Slugger watched on in silence. Izuku knew that Death Arms would have said more, but he had been called over by a police officer who needed him to lift a large piece of rubble. Slugger didn't leave immediately, seeming to stare at Izuku a moment longer before shaking his head and walking over to help the other Heroes. Seeing his opportunity to leave, Izuku hurried and gathered up his bag from where it had landed after he'd thrown it at the Villain. Keeping his head low in the hopes that he wouldn't be noticed, Izuku quickly fled the scene and once again began to make his way home. He briefly considered going back and apologizing to All Might, but the man had been surrounded by reporters and Izuku didn't even want to imagine what would happen if they recognized him as the one who had run towards the Villain.

Maybe he'd actually get home without something crazy happening, this time.

* * *

"Hey, Deku!"

Spinning around, Izuku covered his face with his arms out of reflex upon hearing the angry voice of Kacchan. Peering past his arms, Izuku slowly lowered them and relaxed a bit once he saw that there was still a few yards between himself and the other boy, who looked angrier than Izuku had seen him in a long time.

"K-Kacchan –"

"I never asked you to save me, you hear me?! I could have beaten that Villain myself, got it?! I don't need the pity of a Quirkless failure like you. Don't you dare try and mock me, acting like I needed your help! You stupid nerd!"

With that, the blond-haired boy spun on his heel and walked down the street. Watching him round a corner and leave his sight completely, Izuku let out a small sigh. In a way, Kacchan was right. Even though he had tried to help, Izuku ended up being unable to accomplish anything after running towards the Villain. Part of him was still glad that he had done so, regardless of not having made a difference. Between his talk with All Might and his failed attempt to help Kacchan, Izuku felt like he was finally starting to truly accept that he couldn't be a Hero. Now, he could focus on a more realistic future. One where he used his research to help Heroes, but never be one himself. A future where –

"I am here!" yelled All Might as he suddenly dashed onto the street in front of Izuku, striking a pose in his Muscle Form.

"All Might?! What are you doing here? Weren't you surrounded by reporters?" Izuku yelled in shock.

"Reporters? Ha! Shaking them off is nothing to me! After all, I am All Mi –" blood began spouting from All Might's mouth, wisps of smoke rolling off of his body as it reverted back to its true form. Wiping the blood from his mouth, All Might looked straight into Izuku's eyes. "Kid, I – no, before I say my piece, tell me your name."

"M-Midoriya…Midoriya Izuku."

"Well then, young Midoriya, I've come here for several reasons. First off, I must thank you. If it wasn't for you, I would not have been able to save that boy earlier."

"I…I wasn't able to do anything," Izuku said quietly, shoulders slumping and turning his eyes towards the ground in shame. "Not only was I unable to do anything, but everything that happened was my fault! I got in your way earlier and stopped you from taking the Villain to the police. If I hadn't been so selfish, the Villain never would have gotten free! Even though I'm Quirkless, I dared to ask you if…"

"That's exactly the point!" All Might said strongly, interrupting the young man in front of him. "Of all the people at the scene, it wasn't the police or one of the Heroes that stepped in to try and save that boy! Not even me, the one hailed as the No.1 Hero, the one seen as the Symbol of Peace! Instead, it was a timid and Quirkless young man. You, Izuku Midoriya! It was you who inspired me to act! When I saw you charge in to help that boy, I remembered what you said on that rooftop. That more than anything, you wanted to reach out and save someone. To wear a smile that knows no fear!" Raising his right arm, All Might pointed at Izuku. "Your face held a smile, young Midoriya, one I have seen on my own face countless times before!"

For some reason, Izuku could feel a familiar heat in his eyes and going down his cheeks as All Might spoke.

"Most of the best Heroes show signs of greatness even as children. Many of them claim that, when they see someone who needs help…their bodies simply moved before they could think!"

Clutching his chest as tears poured down his face, Izuku sunk to his knees in the middle of the street, never looking away from the man he'd admired his entire life.

"That…that's what happened to you back there, isn't it?!"

"Y-yes!" Izuku answered, choking back a sob.

"I apologize for what I told you back on that rooftop, young Midoriya. I have never been more wrong in my life…"

Shutting his eyes as tight as he could, Izuku was suddenly reminded of that day when he was four, asking his mother if he could be an amazing Hero someday. Rather than apologizing to him as she had done, what he had wanted to hear, was…

"You _can_ be a Hero, Izuku Midoriya!"

Finally hearing the words he had craved so desperately his entire life, Izuku let out a scream for the second time that day. Unlike the first one, however, this one wasn't fueled by his pain, or anger, or shame. It was filled with the passion of his rekindled dream, with all the strength of what made up the boy known as Izuku Midoriya.

Izuku Midoriya…the boy who would become a Hero.

 **Bit of a short chapter, but I rather liked the idea of ending it here. Not to worry though, I went ahead and uploaded chapter 3 as well to make up for it. Like I said in my first Author's Note, it's a bit slow at the start with only small, somewhat subtle changes but eventually I hope for it to become something impressive. Also, I don't have anyone to beta-read this story for me, so I apologize for any mistakes as I'm unlikely to catch them all myself!**

 **Feel free to leave a review on what I'm doing right and what I'm doing wrong! Thanks for reading!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own My Hero Academia or any of the characters.**

* * *

 _"Just let go,"_ came a faint voice. It was familiar to him, but Izuku couldn't quite place it. Looking down, he could vaguely make out the shapes of people on the streets far below him. Where…where was he? Looking around slowly, the green-haired boy vaguely recognized that he was on a familiar rooftop, standing at the edge and hanging onto a guardrail.

Why was he here?

 _"Don't forget to pray before you do it,"_ the voice spoke again, slightly harsher this time.

Pray? Pray before what? Looking down again, Izuku no longer saw people walking on the street below him. Instead, he saw that the street was filled with…notebooks? Somehow, despite being so high up he could see "Quirk Analysis" written on them. Why were his notebooks in the street?

 _"Best of luck in your next life…Deku."_

This time, the voice was right behind Izuku. Before he could turn his head to see who had spoken, the guardrail suddenly disappeared from Izuku's grasp. With nothing to hold onto, he began falling forward as he felt fear take hold of him. Seeing the ground rapidly approaching, the boy couldn't even let out a scream. Seconds before impact, he shut his eyes as he awaited the moment his body would –

Izuku Midoriya shot up in his bed, his breathing erratic and his eyes wide. _Just a dream_ , he told himself repeatedly, trying to get his breathing under control. After a few moments, he slowly began to relax and took a deep, shaky breath. Feeling extremely damp, Izuku glanced down at his body. Clad only in his boxers, he could see that he was completely covered in sweat. Even his sheets were soaked from how heavily he had been sweating in his sleep. Seeing his covers crumpled up on the floor beside his bed, Izuku realized he must have been thrashing around a bit. Swinging his legs over the edge of his mattress, Izuku stood on shaky legs and quietly made his way out of his room towards the bathroom.

Flipping on the light, Izuku turned one of the knobs on the sink and bent so that his head was closer to it. Splashing his face a few times with the cold water, Izuku turned the water off and grabbed a hand towel off of a nearby rack. Patting his face dry, he let the towel drop to the sink and braced his hands on the sides of it. Raising his head up, Izuku looked into the mirror above the sink.

Looking back at him was a very pale, almost sickly version of Izuku Midoriya.

It was a version he had seen twice already in the week since the day he was told he could be a Hero.

Letting out a tired sigh, Izuku headed towards the kitchen and made himself a glass of water. Looking at a clock that sat on the kitchen countertop, Izuku saw that it was just a little after three in the morning. Deciding that there was no point in going back to sleep since the schedule All Might had made for him required him to get up at four anyways, Izuku chose to go ahead and get a start on his morning routine. As he began to get ready for the day ahead, part of him wanted to just ignore the schedule and try to get some more sleep. That idea, however, was immediately discarded. To do so would be an insult to the faith and effort All Might had put into him that day and in the days since then. Despite how tired he was, Izuku smiled as he remembered everything that happened just moments after his idol had told Izuku that he could be a Hero.

* * *

 _Flashback_

"I believe that you are worthy, young Midoriya…of inheriting my power!" came the voice of All Might, cutting through Izuku's thoughts. His idol, the man who had just told him the words he had wanted to hear for so long, that he could be a Hero…what was he saying?

"Wh-what?" Izuku replied weakly from his place on the ground, turning his tear-stained face towards the No.1 Hero. His confusion was clearly written on his face.

Seeing the look on the young man's face, All Might let out a hearty laugh. "What kind of expression is that? I'm serious with my proposal! Listen well, young Midoriya…I'm asking you if you want to try accepting my power!" Knowing that the lad was still confused, All Might grew serious and began to explain. "What I'm talking about…this concerns my Quirk, young Midoriya. As I'm sure you're aware, it has long been speculated that it's "Super Strength" or "Boost Power." I'm always careful to avoid answering any questions about it in interviews, making jokes and changing the subject. This is because All Might, the "Symbol of Peace"…has to seem as if he is a natural-born Hero." Spreading his arms wide, All Might turned his face towards the sky. "The truth, however, is that my Quirk was passed down to me. Think of it like the Olympic Torch."

"Y-your Quirk…passed down? How…really?!" Izuku asked, completely baffled and rather intrigued by the idea. He had, of course, tried to figure out All Might's Quirk in the past for his research. In fact, Izuku had several notebooks with "All Might Analysis" written on the labels. Similar to his Quirk Analysis notebooks, yet every page was devoted to All Might. Quickly losing himself in his thoughts about this new information, Izuku quickly broke down into an extremely fast mumble, as was his habit whenever he gave serious thought towards a Quirk.

"Do you doubt what I've told you that much?!" All Might suddenly yelled, cutting through Izuku's thoughts and stopping the boy's mumbling (something the No.1 Hero found a bit creepy, to be perfectly honest). "I have many secrets, young Midoriya, but I assure you that I never lie! I have the ability to _transfer_ power…that is the Quirk I inherited! It is called… **One For All!** " the man said strongly, holding up his left hand in front of him and clenching it into a fist.

"One For…All…" Izuku repeated slowly, as if in a trance.

"The first person cultivates the power…and then they choose a successor to pass it on to. That person then refines the power and passes it on to their own successor. In this way…those who are out there, begging to be saved and those who have brave and true hearts link together to form something amazing…a crystalline network of power!" All Might explained.

"All Might…why? Why would you tell me all this?" Izuku asked in confusion, finding it difficult to come to terms with what his idol was saying. "Why would you offer this to me? I'm just…" he trailed off, unsure of what he wanted to say. He was just…him. A Quirkless boy whose only real talent was with researching Quirks and analyzing the Heroes and Villains who use them.

"I've been searching for a successor for quite some time now," All Might said, regaining Izuku's attention. "I believe that you, young Midoriya, are worthy to be that successor! You may be Quirkless. You may be a mere admirer of Heroes, but…back there, you were more heroic than anyone else! But of course, it all depends on you. Becoming my successor will not be easy, and there is always the chance that things may not work out. Even so…will you accept my proposal?" the man asked, holding out a hang to Izuku.

Looking at that hand, Izuku once again felt heat begin to build up in his eyes as his vision began to blur. This time, however, he fought to keep the tears from falling.

Izuku Midoriya had cried enough.

 _He's already told me…so much more than I deserve to know,_ Izuku thought. _He's divulged some of his greatest secrets to me! He's shown his resolve…now it's time to show mine!_

"Yes…I accept!" he said firmly, reaching up and grasping All Might's hand.

 _End Flashback_

* * *

Ever since he had grasped his idol's hand that day, Izuku's life had faced some drastic changes. A couple of days after accepting All Might's proposal, the man had given Izuku a schedule that his idol had called the "Pass the Test, American Dream Plan." The schedule was made by All Might personally, with Izuku's body in mind. Everything about his lifestyle was detailed in the plan. His meals, what exercises to do and when to do them, and even how much sleep Izuku would get. According to All Might, following this hellish plan would just barely be enough to have Izuku's body (which All Might described as a "limp noodle") ready as a more suitable vessel for One For All in time for the U.A. entrance exam. The exam was still ten months away, but even then Izuku knew that he would be cutting it close.

Checking the time, Izuku saw that it was nearly time for him to leave for school. He had already done his morning exercise routine, and had gotten showered and dressed for the day. Grabbing his school bag, Izuku walked to the entryway and put on his shoes. Throwing open the door, Izuku called out a farewell to his mother, who was still eating breakfast.

"I'm leaving, Mom!"

"Take care!" came her cheerful reply.

After walking for nearly 30 minutes, Izuku reached the school and made his way to his shoe locker. He could have gotten here sooner, but he had been taking a different route to and from school than he used to. He knew it was a bit silly, but he hadn't wanted to go through the tunnel he used to walk through ever since he had nearly been killed there by that Villain last week. Exchanging his shoes for his school shoes, Izuku closed the locker and made his way towards his classroom. As usual, nobody called out to greet him as he walked through the halls. Reaching his classroom, Izuku slid the door open and made his way towards his desk. As he was walking towards it, his eyes drifted over to Kacchan's seat and found that the boy's sharp red eyes were watching him, Kacchan's face set in a scowl. Looking away quickly, Izuku hurried to his own desk and sat down.

Letting out a slight sigh, the green-haired boy glanced back in the other boy's direction before shaking his head and turning his focus toward getting out the materials he'd need for class. Ever since that day with the Villain, Kacchan had barely said anything to him. While Izuku was somewhat glad for this, as it meant that the red-eyed teen wasn't going out of his way to bully Izuku like he usually did, he also found the situation to be quite worrying. He was used to a loud, angry, confrontational Kacchan. This quiet (though obviously still angry) version of Kacchan was something Izuku didn't know how to deal with. To make matters worse, Izuku kept having… _that_ dream. He'd had it twice prior to the one from this morning, bringing the total to three times in the span of a week. Seeing Kacchan kept reminding Izuku of not only the dream, but also of those moments on the rooftop after All Might had left him. Regardless of the discomfort this caused him, Izuku couldn't quite bring himself to hate Kacchan or even blame the boy for what he said that day.

Despite Kacchan's words that day and years of bullying, Izuku could still only see the blond-haired boy as someone who was once a friend. No…someone he _still_ saw as being a precious friend, even if Kacchan didn't think the same of him.

Izuku sincerely hoped that the day would come where Kacchan regarded him as a friend once more.

* * *

"Young Midoriya…is here!" came the energetic voice of All Might as Izuku arrived at Takoba Municipal Beach Park. As per the instructions of the schedule All Might had made for him, Izuku had been coming to this beach for the last several days after school. It was here that he did most of his exercising, which mainly consisted of cleaning up the beach. This normally wouldn't have been too difficult a task, but…this beach was rather special. For whatever the reason, the ocean's currents cause a lot of stuff to drift ashore right here on this beach. To make matters worse, people saw the trash building up and decided to dump their own garbage here. There were tires, broken furniture, refrigerators, and a host of other things stacked into large piles all over the place. Izuku wasn't certain as to why nothing had been done about the garbage for so long, but All Might had decided that it would be the perfect for their needs.

Since Izuku had to strengthen his body so that he could inherit One For All without it destroying him (All Might had warned Izuku that using it with his current body would result in his limbs popping right off), All Might had told Izuku to clean up the beach. By doing so he would not only train his body, but he would also be doing a good deed in the process.

 _"The young Heroes today only want fame and glory,"_ the No.1 Hero had told him. _"Most have forgotten that being a Hero is all about volunteer work! No matter how unglamorous it may be! Never forget this, young Midoriya!"_

Seeing All Might up ahead in his Muscle Form, Izuku waved and called out a greeting. By the time he had reached him, his idol had already reverted back to his true form. Knowing he had no time to waste, Izuku removed his school uniform to reveal the casual clothes he had been wearing beneath it. Under All Might's guidance, Izuku once again began the same routine he'd been going through for the last few days and would continue to go through for the next ten months. Throughout the workout, All Might would talk to Izuku about various things so as to learn more about his potential successor. Izuku, of course, was more than happy to answer any of the questions his idol asked him. This continued until it was time for Izuku to head home for the day, with the two of them saying goodbye and going their separate ways for the evening.

This was how Izuku spent the next ten months, with the exception of his resting days so that he didn't seriously injure his body. All Might wasn't always able to be there to watch over Izuku's efforts at the beach, but even so the green-haired boy never slacked off. In fact, there came a point where he tried to increase his own workload and he overexerted his body to the point of collapse. At first, All Might scolded him for not sticking to the schedule that had been made for him. However, after witnessing Izuku's resolve to be a top Hero the man could only feel inspired by his determination. In recognition of that, All Might adjusted Izuku's schedule to be even more difficult while still just barely being bearable so that the boy's body wouldn't collapse again.

When the day for the U.A. entrance exam finally arrived, All Might arrived in his true form at the beach he always met Izuku at and found a sight that made the man swell with pride. The beach that was once so covered with garbage that the ocean couldn't even be seen, was now clear and quite beautiful to behold. It would seem that the young man had managed to complete his incredibly difficult task. Speaking of that young man…

"AHHHHHH!"

There, standing on top of the final pieces of garbage that he had finished moving mere moments before, was Izuku Midoriya letting out a yell of determination and triumph. Going quiet, the green-haired young man began to sway on his feet and then fell towards the ground below. Before he could land, he was caught gently in the arms of All Might, who was now in his Muscle Form.

"Well done," the No.1 Hero said, giving the boy in his arms a blinding smile and looking at him with eyes that shone with pride.

"All Might…!" the young man replied in a weak voice, his exhaustion clear. "I…I did it. I did it!"

"Indeed, young Midoriya! You've shown extraordinary determination these last ten months! A strength of character that is rarely seen, especially in a teen!" All Might praised, setting the boy on his feet. Grabbing his phone, the man took a picture of the young man that stood before him. "Here, take a look!"

"What's this…?" Izuku asked tiredly. Looking more closely, he realizes what it is he is looking at. Why is All Might showing him this? "Isn't this…?"

"Yes, a picture of you from ten months ago! This small, weak boy in the picture is now…" All Might swipes the screen over to the picture he took only moments before, "This impressive young man!" he exclaims proudly. There, Izuku saw what All Might could see when he looked at him. No longer was there a weak little boy who seemed as if he would be toppled by a strong breeze. Instead, there was a strong young man with a well-defined body that could only come from months and months of hard work. Izuku had been so busy, so focused on his goal these last ten months that he had never really even noticed the changes to his body. He'd never given himself the time to notice his progress, only worrying about whether or not he would achieve his goal before the ten months were up. Now, seeing the differences in the pictures, he didn't even know what to say.

"Thanks to your dedication, the path forward is ever-so-slightly clearer!" All Might said, regaining Izuku's attention. "Congratulations, young Midoriya…you are a true vessel now!"

For the first time since the day he had accepted All Might's proposal, since that same day when he had decided to stop crying…

Izuku Midoriya shed tears.

"It feels like…like I cheated…" he said as the tears poured down his face, a small smile on his lips. "Receiving all of this help from you, All Might. I've been blessed…so very much! This…all of this…it's all thanks to you!"

 _How wrong you are, young Midoriya!_ All Might thought as he watched the young man cry for the first time in ten months. _This is because of your own efforts! I merely pointed you in the right direction. You could have given up at any time, but you didn't! You persevered! The task I set before you would have been considered impossible by most, but not you! You faced the challenge head-on, and rose above it!_

"Come now, young Midoriya! This is no time for tears!" All Might said, plucking a long hair from his own head while Izuku rubbed the tears from his eyes. "It is said that there is a big difference between being born with that silver spoon in hand…and working your butt off to earn it! Take it to heart when I tell you, young Midoriya…that you have earned this power, fair and square!"

Despite his humble nature, Izuku couldn't help but feel a great rush of pride in himself at hearing those words from his idol. From hearing that despite all his struggles, or perhaps because of them, he was seen as someone who was worthy! Worthy of the time and effort All Might had put in him! Worthy of being the No.1 Hero's successor, of the amazing power known as One For A-

"Eat this."

A…a strand of hair?

"I…uh….what I mean to say…what?" Izuku stutters, his face void of expression. "I mean…I've always been a fan of yours…a _huge_ fan, but…this is…I'm not _that_ kind of fan…" he rambled, unsure of what to make of this development.

"What? No! No, don't even mention _those_ fans!" All Might said frantically, looking around rapidly as if the mere mention of _them_ would cause _them_ to appear. Even he found _those_ fans scary. Ever since that one time where _that_ kind of fan…shaking his head violently as a shiver went down his spine, All Might forced himself to stop remembering what happened. Returning his attention to the matter at hand, he placed a hand on Izuku's shoulder and pressed the hair none-too-gently into his successor's mouth. Ignoring the sounds of protests and gagging, he kept a hand on Izuku's mouth and forced him to swallow the hair. Seeing that it was finished, he removed his hand and let the young man fall to the ground, looking slightly sick.

"Don't throw it up!" All Might commanded. Really, he shouldn't have forced it on the young man but after being reminded of _that_ …well, even the No.1 Hero was still human. He felt that his successor deserved a bit of discomfort to match his own. Petty, perhaps, but he couldn't bring himself to feel the slightest bit of remorse as he watched the young man gag as he sat in the sand. Clearing his throat, All Might continued as if the interruption had never happened. "Anyways…to pass on my Quirk to you, you needed to ingest my DNA! Now hurry and get going, the U.A. entrance exam begins in three hours!"

Pushing back his disgust, Izuku gave a subdued farewell to his mentor and began making his way home to prepare for the entrance exam.

 _It…it tasted sour…lemon…?_

* * *

"I…I made it…I'm actually here! At U.A.!" Izuku said in amazement as he walked through the front gate of U.A. High School. He was having a hard time coming to terms with the fact. This was where All Might graduated from! The place regarded as the top school for Heroes in the country, maybe in the entire world! He was –

"Move aside, Deku!" came an angry, familiar voice behind him.

"K-Kacchan!" Izuku said in surprise, spinning around to face the red-eyed boy and bringing his arms up in front of his face out of habit but then trying to pass it off as a wave. "G-good morning! Let's both do our best with the –"

"Get out of my way, or you're dead." Kacchan said coldly, cutting across what Izuku was trying to say. Walking past him, Kacchan didn't spare him even a single glance. Izuku watched him go, still not quite sure what he was supposed to feel about his 'friend'. Ever since that day with the Villain, Kacchan had stopped tormenting him. Izuku was happy about that, especially since it meant he no longer ended up with burns from the other boy's Quirk. On the other hand, Kacchan's attitude toward him had been…worse, in a way. Before, it had simply seemed like Kacchan just really, _really_ disliked him. Now…now it was almost as if the other boy found Izuku's very existence to be a personal insult.

Realizing that his arms were still held up in that weird flinch-turned-wave position, Izuku sighed and lowered his arms. He really needed to lose that habit of flinching every time Kacchan came towards him, but after years of bullying it just came naturally. Not to mention the reaction had worsened after the…nightmares, which Izuku had finally stopped having nearly three months after they had first started.

 _Things are different now!_ Izuku thought, a wide smile making its way onto his face. _I'm not the same boy I was ten months ago, I've worked hard to improve myself! Today, I'll officially begin walking the path of becoming a Hero!_ he thought confidently, beginning to walk towards the building where the entrants were gathering.

…and promptly began to trip. Just before he could land on his face, however, he suddenly felt rather…weightless? He began floating upwards for a second, until his weight suddenly returned and he landed on his feet.

"Are you okay?" asked a concerned, yet cheerful voice to his left. Looking over, he saw a petite girl with shoulder-length brown hair. "That was my Quirk. I apologize for using it on you without your permission, but…it's a bad omen to trip and fall, you know? I'm so nervous about the entrance exam…we should hurry inside! Good luck to both of us," she said, walking away from a stuttering Izuku.

 _I…I talked! To a girl! I talked to a pretty girl!_ Izuku thought excitedly as he watched her walk away, not realizing that it was only the girl whom had spoken and that he never actually said anything. _Mom! All Might! I did it! I'm completely different than I used to be!_ Filled with confidence from his 'conversation', the green-haired teen made his way inside to the auditorium the entrants had been instructed to gather in. Finding his assigned seat next to an already seated Kacchan, Izuku made it just in time for the ceremony to start.

After seeing that the speaker for the ceremony was Present Mic, Izuku was barely able to stop himself from talking about the Hero and his popular radio show out loud and managed to avoid causing a scene. Barely. As the Pro Hero began to explain the test, Izuku noted a few interesting things. He was glad that he and Kacchan would be at different testing sites, and let out a small sigh of relief. Kacchan, however, seemed angry at hearing this. As Present Mic began explaining the different kinds of robotic Faux Villains for them to defeat and the points assigned to each type, Izuku noticed that the man only mentioned three Faux Villains. The handout that had been placed in front of each entrant, however, mentioned four. Just as he was wondering if the Pro Hero had made a mistake, an entrant with glasses and black hair stood up and pointed out the difference between the handout and what Present Mic had told them. The man then replied that the fourth Faux Villain was only there as an obstacle for the entrants, and was worth zero points.

"That's all I've got to say!" Present Mic finished, flourishing his arms to his sides. "I'll leave my listeners with our school motto… **Plus Ultra**! Good luck, everyone!"

* * *

"This…is the testing site?!" Izuku said in disbelief. The testing site looked to be the size of a small city, filled with fairly modern buildings. All around him, the other entrants were making similar comments.

"…and they've got several of these on the school grounds?"

"U.A.'s something else…"

Doing his best to keep his nerves under control, Izuku looked around at the other entrants. He was dismayed to see that a large number of them had equipment to complement their Quirks. Meanwhile, Izuku had no equipment and hadn't even gotten a chance to try using the Quirk that All Might had passed on to him earlier that morning. Letting out a sigh, Izuku keeps looking around until he notices a familiar face.

 _It-it's the girl from earlier! I can't believe we're at the same test site!_ Izuku thought in amazement as he began making his way to the girl. _I need to thank her for earlier. I must have seemed so rude, to have been helped and not thanked her!_ Before he could even take five steps in her direction, his arm was wrapped in a strong grip. Looking behind him at the owner of the hand, Izuku recognized the glasses-wearing teen as the one who had spoken up in the auditorium. He had a serious look on his face and seemed irritated.

"That girl seems to be doing some kind of meditation. It would be rude to distract her!" the boy said sternly. Before Izuku can respond, the black-haired boy crossed his arms and fixed him with a glare that caused the words to die in Izuku's throat. "Why are you here? Are you hoping to interfere with those of us who take this seriously?"

Glancing around, Izuku notices that they were garnering quite a bit of attention from the other entrants.

"Isn't that the kid who made a fool of himself back at the front gate?"

"He doesn't look like much."

"Good, it just means that there is one less rival to worry about."

 _Isn't this kind of harsh?_ Izuku thought, beginning to sweat a bit from all the attention he was getting. _I just wanted to thank that girl! What's so –?_

"And…begin!" a voice called out.

Everyone looked at each other, having been so absorbed in what they were doing that they forgot their original reason for having been waiting there.

"What's wrong?" the voice asked, this time being recognized as belonging to Present Mic. "The test has started! Run! Run! The die is cast!"

Suddenly, Izuku was standing alone as he saw all of the other entrants sprinting into the testing site. Overcoming his surprise at the sudden start of the test, Izuku began running towards the site as well, cursing himself for being so slow to react. When he entered the site, he was dismayed to see that there were already scraps of defeated robots that the other entrants had destroyed, littering the street. Doing his best to beat back his rising panic, Izuku kept running around in search of Faux Villains. Every time he drew near one, it would be taken out by someone else and caused his distress to grow. As he passed a few of the other entrants, his panic rose to new heights when he overhead them say how many points they had.

"28 points…" muttered the girl that had helped him earlier.

"45 points!" shouted the glasses-wearing boy that had scolded him before the test, his leg crashing into a Faux Villain at a high speed and crushing its metal plating.

"Five minutes left!" came the voice of Present Mic.

 _This…this is bad!_ Izuku thought frantically. _There are barely any enemies left! At this rate, I won't even get a single point! All my efforts…all the time and faith All Might put into me will be for nothing!_ Without warning, there came a huge rumbling sound and the ground began to shake. Hearing an incredibly loud metallic screech behind him, Izuku turned around.

"H-hey…" he said weakly, feeling fear grip him as he looked up at the source of the sound. "That…that's way too big! That's more than just an 'obstacle'!"

Coming towards Izuku and the other entrants was the final Faux Villain, the one that wasn't worth any points. It stood taller than the buildings, and was crushing those very buildings as it made its way to them. Izuku barely even acknowledged the screams of the other entrants as they all ran past him, rushing to get away from the mechanical monstrosity. He himself had just started to turn to run when he heard it.

"Oww…my leg…" There, lying on the ground with her leg stuck under some rubble, was the girl from this morning. To make matters worse…

The monstrous Faux Villain was mere feet away from her.

None of the others were trying to help her, too concerned with their own standing in the test.

Before Izuku fully realized what was happening, he felt power surge within his legs and jumped towards the Faux Villain. Incredibly, he almost immediately appeared in front of the 'head' of the robot and pulled his right arm back, hand balled into a fist.

 _"If you need to use One For All in the entrance exam, then…"_ All Might had told him that morning before they left the beach. _"Clench up your butt, and let your heart cry out!"_ Izuku once again felt a surge of power, but this time in his arm. Throwing it forward in a fierce punch, Izuku instinctively let out a yell just as he'd always seen his idol do.

"SMASH!"

The result was instantaneous and awe-inspiring. The Faux Villain, a monstrosity which could crush buildings with ease, had its mechanical head _crushed_. The rest of the robot was thrown back from the force, crashing through a building that had been behind it and making no attempt to get back up.

Surprise and disbelief was felt by everyone who saw what just happened, but none felt it more strongly than Izuku. He'd had no time to consider the situation before he acted, his body had just moved on its own. He was reminded of when the same thing had happened with the Sludge Villain all those months ago, but his attention was quickly brought back to a rather urgent matter.

He was falling.

He was also suddenly in a _lot_ of pain.

His right arm and both of his legs were screaming in agony, causing Izuku to let out a scream of his own at the amount of pain he was in. He knew that there would be repercussions for using One For All without ever having trained with it before, All Might had warned him it would happen, but even so…he hadn't been expecting something like _this_! He had been naive to think that it would be anything less than this, this was All Might's power! The No.1 Hero could change the weather itself with one of his punches, so why would Izuku have ever thought that the power would be something he could have any semblance of control over? To make matters worse, he was still falling! The only way he could think of that would let him survive such a fall would be to channel One For All into his one uninjured limb and use the force from the punch to slow his fall. If he didn't get the timing right, he'd die anyways! Even if he survives, that would leave him with all his limbs broken and he wouldn't have a chance to continue the test. He would fail! He would –

Izuku's head snapped to the right, his left cheek stinging. He barely registered this new pain over the agony in three of his limbs, but it snapped him out of his thoughts. Looking at the approaching ground, he notices that it was coming at him more slowly with each passing moment. His body comes to a halt only a foot away from the ground, and then drops the rest of the way. His limbs let out a fresh wave of agony as he hits the ground, but Izuku tries to ignore it in favor of looking around for the one who saved him. A retching sound drew his attention to his left, just a few feet away from where he landed. There, on top of some debris from one of the Faux Villains, is the girl from this morning.

 _Is she okay? Is she hurt?_ Izuku looked closely at the girl, and noticed that she just seemed nauseous. "Thank goodness…!" he said, relief clear in his voice. Knowing that the girl would be fine, Izuku forced himself to ignore the pain he was in and used his one good arm to drag himself forward. He had to find and defeat one of the Faux Villains! If he could just get one point…a single point! He had to –

"Time's up, everyone! The test is now over!"

For the second time that day, Izuku shed tears.

Unlike earlier that day, his tears weren't from happiness and pride in his accomplishment. These tears were fueled by grief and shame.

"A single point…" he sobbed. "I didn't get…even a single point! I'm sorry…I'm so sorry…!"

Izuku never noticed the attention he was receiving from the other entrants. Didn't even notice when an elderly lady known as Recovery Girl approached his battered and broken body, using her Quirk to heal his injuries. As he is overcome by a wave of exhaustion that is a side effect of the woman's Quirk, Izuku only has a single thought that he keeps repeating in his mind.

 _I'm sorry, All Might! I'm so, so very sorry!_

* * *

 **Thanks for reading another chapter! I hope to try and update weekly, but this is my first shot at writing fanfiction so I may be a bit slow at it. That and with it being just myself, I'm having to go a bit slow with editing so that I can try and catch any mistakes. Not to mention my format keeps getting butchered when I upload the story to . Feel free to leave a comment and let me know what I'm doing right or wrong!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello again! Thanks for joining in for another chapter of Altruism. Also, I apologize for the delay. College hit like a bus this last week with lessons being moved up and several tests happening. Before we get into the story, I just wanted to address a few concerns some of you have put forth. Yes, the story so far has been close to canon, but that's intentional. Like I said in my first Author's Note, it will _start_ off pretty similarly to canon, but will have small changes (the scene on the roof, mentions of his research, his nightmare, etc…) Those small changes will gradually branch off and change the story quite a bit as time goes on. My aim for this story is for it to be detailed and have a nice depth to it (especially in regards to character development). This is another reason why I decided to fully write out the beginning rather than give the bullet notes of all of it told in time skips. I hope that helps to explain why I did it the way I did. I should have been clearer on that sooner, so my apologies! Now, this note has gone on long enough. I hope you all enjoy the new chapter!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own My Hero Academia or any of the characters.**

* * *

He was crying again.

Sitting at the desk next to his bed, surrounded by shelves that were loaded with his Quirk Analysis notebooks and research materials, Izuku Midoriya's tears silently fell onto the wooden surface.

He'd failed to destroy even a single point-yielding Faux Villain last week. He had caused horrible damage to his legs and right arm, damage that the legendary Recovery Girl then had to heal. He hadn't even managed to leave the testing site under his own power, having to be carried out on a stretcher after he'd passed out from exhaustion.

Pathetic. His performance was pathetic. A complete failure, except…

Except he had protected that girl. Regardless of anything else, that was the one thing Izuku hadn't been able to bring himself to regret. He had done what he thought was right, even if it meant failing. Apparently, however, he wasn't the only one who saw his decision as being the right one. According to the now deactivated projection device that was on his desk, the teachers of U.A. (which now included All Might among their ranks, as Izuku had just learned from the projection of the man himself) had been grading them in another way, one they hadn't mentioned during Present Mic's ceremony.

Rescue Points.

When he'd saved that girl, Izuku had been scored quite highly by the teachers of U.A. Because of that, he was now crying with a smile on his face. Because of that…

He had passed. Starting in the spring, Izuku Midoriya would be a student of U.A.'s Hero Course.

Wiping the tears from his eyes, Izuku leaned back in his chair and let his eyes wander around his room. His gaze rested on the single life-size All Might replica he had within his room (all of his other All Might merchandise was kept in their apartment's spare room, due to his multiple shelves of research taking up most of his space) and couldn't help but feel a rush of gratitude for his idol…for his mentor. The man that had made all of this possible. All Might had saved Izuku's life all those months ago, had given him hope, watched over him during those months of training, and had even entrusted him with One For All…

Izuku felt his smile slip and turn into a slight frown at the thought of the Quirk that had been granted to him. It was an amazing Quirk, there was no doubt about that. With it, All Might became the No.1 Hero in the world and was considered to be unbeatable. It was extremely powerful…

Too powerful, in fact, for Izuku to wield. When he had tried to do so during the entrance exam at U.A., it had quite literally destroyed his own body. The flesh on his right arm and legs had burst open in various places, and his bones had suffered multiple breaks and fractures. All Might had put Izuku through that hellish training because his body had been too weak to withstand One For All, and now…he could still only barely use it. Even if he continued to train his body, it could take months or even years before his body would be able to withstand his Quirk at its fullest potential.

Izuku grimaced at the idea of constantly destroying his body until he was able to fully withstand One For All. The problem was that he had no clue on how he could avoid it. He had nothing to reference for this, nothing he could –

Izuku went very still, slowly looking at the room around him. More specifically, at the shelves that were overflowing with research on Quirks. Tons of reference material for his research, and 53 notebooks serving as the final results. 53 thick notebooks, each one having a few hundred pages each…completely packed with information on Quirks. He knew that he didn't have anything in them that would solve his problem entirely, but he also knew that his Quirk wasn't the only one that had repercussions (even if it did have the most severe repercussions of any he'd ever come across). If he could analyze those Quirks in particular, try and figure out what the users of those Quirks did to lessen or nullify the repercussions…he might just be able to at least get a hint on how to withstand using One For All without it destroying his body.

Izuku felt a huge grin form on his face as he grabbed Quirk Analysis #1 off of a nearby shelf. He'd always thought that he would eventually be able to use his research to help others, to support Heroes. Never did it occur to him that one day he would actually be able to use it for _himself_.

He had a lot of information to go through, a lot of research to do on his findings, and only a little under two months until he started at U.A. Add in the fact that he also had to attend school, continue training his body, and do anything he needed to do to prepare for U.A.'s Hero Course…Izuku let out a small sigh of resignation.

He had really been hoping to start getting a bit more sleep now that his extreme training regimen was over. Maybe even relax a bit around the house…read a book, eat some katsudon, watch some television with his mother, and eat more katsudon. _Not gonna have time for that now,_ Izuku thought in slight disappointment.

Well, maybe the katsudon.

* * *

"I'm…I'm lost, aren't I?" Izuku's voice rang out, almost seeming to echo in the enormous hallway. He couldn't believe it. He was finally here, walking the halls of U.A. just as he had always dreamed of doing.

…except in his dreams, he wasn't wandering the halls with absolutely no idea where he was.

He really should have known that _something_ would happen, considering that things had been going far too well for him for the last few weeks. He'd finished designing his Hero costume, a new restaurant opened near his apartment that served amazing katsudon, and his research had finally –

"Yo! You lost?" came a voice from Izuku's left. Feeling a rush of relief that there was someone who could point him in the right direction, he turned his head to the left.

Izuku's body froze, his mind slowing to a crawl. The wall…had a face. And a shirtless torso. There were no arms attached, just…a shirtless torso and a smiling face, with blond hair that stuck up in a cowlick. Was this…?

"Are you a new student?" Yeah, definitely the voice that called out to him moments before. Izuku gave a hesitant nod. "Welcome! Since you're walking around here, I'm guessing you're in the Hero Course, right? What class are you in? 1-A?" Another nod, slightly more confident. "Awesome! In that case, take the stairs up to the next floor and take a left. Big door with '1-A' written right on it!" the face finished, still smiling.

"Ah…uh th-thank you," Izuku replied, his mind finally starting to function properly. "Who –"

Before he could finish his question, the torso and face were suddenly pulled into the wall (or through it, he really couldn't tell), a slight look of surprise on the face. Izuku stared at the space it had just been, the wall seemingly without a single blemish as if there had never been a face and torso sticking out of it. Shaking his head to snap himself out of his stupor, Izuku hurried towards the stairs just as the face had advised him. Reaching the next floor and turning left, he saw that there was indeed an enormous door with '1-A' on it in large letters. Knowing that the bell would be ringing in only a few minutes, Izuku opened the door and hurried inside.

"…foot from that desk! What you are doing is an insult to those who came here before us and to the craftsmen who made the desk!"

"Like I care. Get out of my face, you nameless extra!"

This day…really wasn't going as Izuku had dreamed it would.

Sitting inside the room, with his feet propped upon his desk and looking like he owned the place, was Kacchan. To make things worse, the boy that was currently scolding Kacchan was someone Izuku hadn't really wanted to meet again.

"N-nameless extra?! How rude! My name is Iida Tenya, formerly of Somei Private Academy," the glasses wearing boy responded.

"So you're some stuck-up elitist? Big deal! I'll still blow you to bits," came Kacchan's reply, seeming completely unimpressed with Iida. Deciding that it'd be best to get to his seat before either of them noticed him, Izuku slowly made his way to an open seat he saw that was away from the two boys.

"Blow me to…?! How awful! You –" Iida's response was cut short as he noticed Izuku making his way past him. Turning towards the green-haired boy, Iida marched right up to him. "I'm Iida Tenya –"

"I heard you earlier!" Izuku blurted out, cutting the boy off. "I, ah, I'm Midoriya Izuku. Pleased to meet you, Iida." _Just please don't start scolding me like at the entrance exam,_ Izuku thought. _Oh who am I kidding, he's definitely gonna start berating me again!_

"Midoriya…I misjudged you! For that, you have my apologies!"

 _There it is! He's…not…he's apologizing?!_

"You were superior to me, that day!" Iida continued, grinding his teeth together and gesturing to Izuku with his hands. "You figured out the true nature of the entrance exam, while I failed to do so! To think that you were able to discern that rescuing people would also –"

"I didn't!" Izuku said abruptly, once again interrupting the boy in front of him. He didn't want to take credit for something he didn't do, to make the other boy believe that Izuku was more than he really was. "I didn't…know anything about the Rescue Points. I'm not someone that impressive…I just, just saw that girl needed help and I…" he trailed off, noticing that most of the class was watching him by this point. He could feel his face heating up in what must have been an impressive blush, but before he could do or say anything he was distracted by the sound of the classroom door sliding open behind him.

"Ah! That curly hair from the entrance exam!"

Standing in the doorway was the kind girl he'd met at the entrance exam. Izuku's blush grew a bit when he saw how nice she looked in the U.A. school uniform.

"You got in! I went to talk to Present Mic, and he said you'd get in! I'm so glad we both got in!" the cheerful girl said enthusiastically, an incredibly bright smile lighting up her face.

 _That's right,_ Izuku thought as he remembered what he'd seen on the projection device. _I nearly forgot that she went to Present Mic on my behalf and tried to give me some of her points! Such a kind girl!_

"Thank you for speaking to Present Mic about me…and even going so far as to offer me some of your points…I really don't deserve such kindness…" Izuku said, rubbing his neck in slight embarrassment.

"How do you know –?"

"If you're just here to make friends, then get out," came a voice from the doorway.

Looking for the source of the voice, Izuku saw…a face, down at the floor. It took him a moment to realize that the rest of the person was completely wrapped up inside of a yellow sleeping bag.

 _…at least this one isn't sticking out of a wall. Or an armless torso with no shirt,_ Izuku thought emotionlessly. Honestly, his first class hadn't even started yet and he was already tired and ready for this day to end.

His first day at U.A. really, really wasn't going the way he'd thought it would.

Suddenly, the man somehow stood up in one fluid motion without even leaving his sleeping bag. Slowly, the sleeping bag was unzipped and revealed an incredibly worn-out looking man. He had a rather slender build and looked like he'd just rolled out of bed, his black eyes only half-opened and his black hair going to his shoulders in a messy fashion. Even his clothes, a black long-sleeved shirt and matching pants, just looked so…ragged. Really, the only distinctive parts of his outfit were the utility belt the man wore and a long grey scarf that pooled around the man's neck and onto his shoulders.

"You're all wasting time just staring at me. Time is a very precious resource, wasting it is irrational…you lot aren't very rational, are you?" the unkempt man asked with a sigh. "I'm your homeroom teacher, Aizawa Shota. Pleased to meet you."

 _Somehow…I don't think that he's actually pleased to meet us at all,_ Izuku thought blandly. _Though if he's our teacher…then he's a Pro Hero…? I don't recognize him!_

Aizawa began rummaging around in his sleeping bag, pulling something out of it and shoving it towards Izuku. Taking it into his hands and looking at it, he saw that it was a uniform with 'U.A.' written on it in large letters.

"Stop wasting time and change into your gym clothes, then we'll be heading out to the grounds." Aizawa said as he handed out the rest of the uniforms.

* * *

"DIE!" Kacchan shouted, letting off a fairly large explosion as he threw the ball Aizawa had given him. The result was…impressive, to say the least. Aizawa turned the beeping device he was holding so that the entire class could see it, showing them the results of Kacchan's throw.

"705.2 meters?!"

"Seriously?!"

"This is awesome! We can finally use our Quirks for real…the Hero Course really is something else!"

 _This…can I pull it off?_ Izuku thought worriedly. When they had gotten out to the field, Aizawa had told them that they would be tested on their Quirks. To do so, they were going to be doing some of the same tests that they used to do in middle school. The only difference was that this time, they were allowed to use their Quirks for the tests. Sure, Izuku had finally made some progress with training One For All in the last two weeks, but only barely! Using it even partially was incredibly difficult, took too much time, had no immediate uses, and _still_ carried a lot of risk. The slightest screw up would be enough to cause him to lose control and destroy his body. He –

"Awesome…is that how you feel about this?" came Aizawa's voice, drawing attention from everyone. "This is U.A., the school hailed as the best there is…do you really think it'll be so easy that your three years here will be all fun and games?" Even the more cheerful students began to lose their grins at this point, all of them having a sinking feeling in their guts after hearing their teacher's words. "Then how about this…the one of you that has the lowest score across all events…will be expelled immediately."

"Expelled?!" blurted out a blond-haired boy to Izuku's left.

"You can't be serious!" another boy shouted, this one having spiky red hair.

"This…that's completely unfair!" added the girl Izuku had met in the entrance exam. "It's only the first day! Even if it wasn't, to expel someone just because of a single test is…"

"A Hero's life is filled with unfair things," Aizawa said loudly, instantly quieting his students. "Natural disasters aren't fair. Rampaging Villains aren't fair. Heroes are the ones who correct that unfairness. If things were fair, there wouldn't be a need for Heroes at all. But life isn't fair, and therefore Heroes _are_ needed. So if you were hoping to spend your evenings hanging out with your friends at the movies, then I'm sorry to tell you…that won't be happening. Make no mistake, for the next three years…U.A. will put you through the wringer. Because those Heroes that are needed? In a few years…that'll mean _you_. Until then…U.A. will push you beyond your limits. _That's_ Plus Ultra."

For a moment none of the students made a sound, not even moving a muscle after hearing their teacher's speech. Then that moment passed, a fiery determination seeming to grip all of them. A single glance at any one of them was enough for Aizawa to see that they would all be doing everything they could to succeed, even if it meant the failure of one of the others…

All except for one of them, Aizawa noted.

Clenching his fists and staring at the ground, Izuku felt torn. Like his classmates, their teacher's speech had the green-haired boy filled with a sense of determination. He wanted, more than anything else, to be a Hero. Not only that, but All Might had put his faith in Izuku, making him the successor to One For All in the hopes that one day Izuku would become the next top Hero – the next Symbol of Peace. He knew that because of this, he had a _duty_ to pass this test and become a Hero. But…

Could he do it if it meant crushing someone else's dreams of becoming a Hero?

Izuku knew what it was like to have that dream crushed, to have someone tell you that you can't become a Hero. He knew it _very_ well, was intimately familiar with all the pain it could cause. To be part of inflicting that pain onto someone else…he didn't think he could do it.

But he also couldn't fail and never become a Hero.

So how could he keep anyone, including himself, from failing the test and being expelled?

 _Wait…failing?_ Izuku thought, his mind starting to work quickly. Similar to how he got when he was going through his research, Izuku ignored everything else and began analyzing everything he could about his teacher's actions so far and his words earlier. _Rational…across all events…lowest score…lowest?...rational…wasting resources…irrational…?_

Slowly, a plan began to form in Izuku's mind. It was risky, but if his observations about his new teacher were right…

"Aizawa-sensei!" Izuku called out, drawing everyone's attention. "Just to be sure…you said that the one of us who has the lowest final score will be expelled right?"

"…yes, that is indeed what I said," Aizawa replied slowly, raising an eyebrow in slight confusion. _He obviously heard me clearly the first time, so why would this kid…?_

"And the scoring…how will that be decided?"

Curious about what the boy was getting at, Aizawa decided to play along for now and answered, "To keep it simple, I'll be giving up to ten points for each event."

Nodding his head as if he'd been expecting the answer, the green-haired boy decided to ask one more question. "After we are each scored for an event…could you tell us what our score is for that event? Please?"

While normally Aizawa would decline such a request…this time, Aizawa nodded. He was curious what the boy was up to, and the only way to find out would be to continue playing along…at least until it was no longer interesting.

Letting out a shaky breath, Izuku smiled and clenched his fist. He had a plan…now he just had to pull it off, somehow.

* * *

"Mineta Minoru…ten points."

 _Ten points?!_ Izuku thought worriedly. _Not good! That puts him nine points ahead of me! If he scores anything more than a one in the final event…I'll be guaranteed last place and be expelled!_

Up until this point, Izuku's plan had been going nearly perfectly. Overall, he was currently in last place, with the small boy known as Mineta being in second to last place. Izuku had done his very best to try and achieve his goal in the last seven events, and had only been behind the other boy by a single point. He had been fortunate in that the other boy's Quirk hadn't been very useful in the events they had been tested on up until now, but once they got to the side-stepping event he went and scored a ten, while Izuku had only scored a two! As it stood, Izuku was a whole _nine points_ behind. If the grape-haired boy scored more than a one or Izuku scored less than a ten in the final event…

Had he made an error? Were his good intentions going to cause him to be expelled…?

 _No…no, I still have a chance!_ Izuku thought, doing his best to squash his rising panic. _The last event is the throwing event, right? But to score a ten on that, I'd have to use One For All! I still can't control it well enough to use it for such a sudden movement! For now, the method I came up with from my research is useless for anything beyond training…I'll have to use it the same way as I did in the entrance exam!_ Izuku nodded to himself in determination, accepting the fact that he'd have to grit his teeth and brace himself for the pain to come.

Regaining his composure and focus, Izuku looked up to see that the final event was already underway and that several of his classmates had already completed it. He watched as his multi-armed classmate, whom Aizawa had called Shoji earlier, made an impressive throw and quietly walk back to the group of students. It took a moment for Izuku to realize something…

Aizawa wasn't announcing their scores any more.

 _Why did he stop?_ Izuku wondered in slight worry.

He had no way to know that Aizawa had stopped intentionally, hoping to get some sort of reaction out of Izuku. The boy's performance in the entrance exam and in the test up until now made Aizawa want to write him off as someone who could never be a Hero, but…

 _Those questions he asked and the look on his face…the boy has a plan, but what is it?_ Aizawa wondered, idly scoring students as they came up to throw the ball for the final event. _Despite having done so poorly in the exam thus far, he seemed almost…satisfied with how things were going. The only time he seemed worried was when that Mineta kid scored well in the last event. But he'd been fine with being in last place until then, so what changed?_ His half-lidded eyes focused on the green-haired boy in question as he made his way forward to take his turn. _Just what are you up to?_

As Izuku made his way to the designated spot for his throw, ball already in hand, he let out a shaky breath. For whatever reason, Aizawa still wasn't announcing their scores for this event. That meant that he would have no way of knowing whether or not his gamble had worked, not until the test was completely over and their final scores given. Steeling his resolve and bracing himself for the pain he would soon be feeling, Izuku channeled One For All to his right arm and threw the ball as hard as he could.

…only for it to fall way, _way_ short. Not only that, but his arm was fine too!

"Why…I know I was using it…" Izuku muttered, completely baffled. He had used it! He'd felt the immense energy coursing through his arm, so why…?

"I've 'erased' your Quirk for the moment," Aizawa said, causing Izuku to look at his teacher. The man no longer looked like he was half-asleep, instead he seemed highly irritated and almost…disappointed? In the back of his mind, Izuku finally recognized who his teacher was after witnessing the man's Quirk. The Hero who nullifies Quirks by looking at them…Eraser Head. A Hero who wasn't as well-known as some others because of his extreme dislike of media appearances, which explained why Izuku hadn't recognized him at first.

 _His hair…is raised up? But there isn't any wind…_ Izuku thought idly, his curiosity momentarily distracting him from the seriousness of the situation.

"I was interested in what you'd do because I thought you had some kind of plan," Aizawa continued, drawing Izuku's attention back to the matter at hand. "But you…you were about to do the same thing that you did in the entrance exam. I saw it…you can't control your Quirk, even now. You're just as reckless as another guy I know…but that guy can back that recklessness up and not let it get in the way. You…you would be incapacitated after using your power just once, something that would inconvenience others. As you are…there is no chance of you becoming a Hero." Aizawa deactivated his Quirk, his hair falling back into place. "You've got your Quirk back…throw the ball and let's get this over with."

 _How disappointing,_ the Erasure Hero thought, slightly irritated at how things had turned out. _I thought the kid might actually have some kind of plan. Did he really think he could pass just by using his Quirk in the final event? Completely irrational._

Standing there with another ball in hand, Izuku's mind worked feverishly to try and figure out what he should do. From his teacher's words, Izuku knew that if he used his Quirk and became incapacitated…he'd fail, regardless of points. At the same time, the only way for him to score the ten points he needed was for him to use his Quirk! He couldn't regulate his power yet, meaning he'd receive the full repercussions for using it…

Izuku froze as an idea began to form in his mind. It wasn't that he couldn't have any repercussions…only that he wasn't incapacitated. Knowing that he had no alternatives, Izuku took a throwing stance. He wasn't sure if he could pull off what he'd just thought of, but he had to try! Activating One For All again, Izuku felt power surge and he threw the ball with everything he had. This time, the ball shot through the sky like a rocket and quickly left his sight. Gritting his teeth at the pain that he was feeling, the green-haired boy made a fist and turned towards his teacher to show the man the results of Izuku using his Quirk. There, displayed for all to see…

Was a single, horribly swollen finger.

"I'm not…incapacitated, Aizawa-sensei!" Izuku said proudly. And it was true. While his finger was certainly badly broken, it wasn't nearly enough to incapacitate him.

For the first time that day, Izuku and the other students saw something besides irritation or boredom on their teacher's face.

 _This kid…he focused his Quirk on his finger instead of his entire arm, reducing the backlash from using it. He might just have the potential to become a Hero after all,_ Aizawa thought, a large grin plastered on his face.

Before anyone could say anything more, they all heard several explosions and saw a certain boy with spiky blond hair rapidly making his way towards where Izuku was standing. The look of sheer rage on his face surprised most of them. He'd shown himself to be quick to anger throughout the day, but this…

"DEKU! What the hell was that?! Explain yourself, you bastard!" came the roar from Katsuki Bakugou.

Izuku blanched as he saw the look on Kacchan's face. Izuku hadn't seen him this mad since that day with the Sludge Villain! The green-haired boy raised his arms in a hasty defense and closed his eyes, bracing himself for the explosion that was surely going to be coming his way. It wouldn't be enough to seriously injure him, but he was certain to suffer a few burns.

He should know. He'd been the main target of Kacchan's bullying for years.

Surprised when the heat and pain didn't come, Izuku slowly opened his eyes and lowered his arms. Kacchan was no longer charging towards him, instead…

"What the…this cloth…why is it so stiff?!" the blond-haired boy yelled, a familiar grey cloth wrapped around his torso and face, restraining the enraged boy. Following the cloth, Izuku saw their teacher standing a few feet away with the cloth gripped tightly in his hands. He also noticed a pair of golden goggles around the man's neck, something that had been concealed beneath the scarf until now.

 _His hair is raised up again…but there's still no wind,_ Izuku noted. _Kacchan isn't using his Quirk. Is Aizawa-sensei erasing it? Does that mean that his hair raising up is a result of using his Quirk? Maybe I can ask him about it after the test is over…if I'm not expelled_ , he thought, his curiosity for Quirks clashing with his worry of the test.

"It's what is commonly referred to as a 'Capture Weapon', a tool made of carbon fibers and a special alloy wire," Aizawa stated, answering his student's question. "Now stop using your Quirk already…I'm getting dry eye." The cloth went slack and the Erasure Hero began draping the 'scarf' over his shoulders once more. A second later, he blinked and his hair dropped back into its usual messy appearance. Aizawa then took out a small bottle from his pocket and squeezed a few drops from it onto his eyes. "Now both of you keep quiet and step aside. There are still a couple more who need to throw the ball before the test can be over."

Both boys did as they were instructed, one of them filled with anger and the other with relief. Izuku let out a small sigh and went to stand next to the kind girl with brown hair, while a seething Kacchan went to the opposite end of the group, as far away from Izuku as he could get.

"Is your finger alright? It looks really swollen!" the girl asked in concern once he'd reached her.

"Oh…uh, y-yeah…just a bit sore, really. No big deal!" Izuku answered, giving her a small smile. It definitely wasn't just sore, but he didn't want to worry the girl too much. Izuku then gained a slight frown as he realized something. He still didn't know her name! He'd listened in on everyone's scores after each event today for his plan, so he'd learned nearly all of their names, but…somehow, he hadn't heard what hers was! Intending to rectify this mistake, Izuku cleared his throat and nervously said, "I'm sorry! I just realized that I –"

"Alright, the test is done," Aizawa's voice interrupted. "Time for the results. As there were eight events, there were 80 points possible. With the exception of the last event, you all know your own scores if you kept up with them. This list will be your final score and rankings." The man then pulled a small device from his pocket and tossed it on the ground. Everyone there recognized it as one of the projection devices that had been sent to them to confirm their acceptance into U.A. Their teacher then pulled out another device from his other pocket, similar to a smartphone. He tapped on it a few times, but then seemed to go very still and stared at the device for a moment.

 _This…the questions he asked earlier…this was his plan the whole time?_ Aizawa thought in surprise, lifting his head up to stare at the boy in question.

Izuku felt a sense of dread wash over him when his teacher turned to stare at him, the man's face giving nothing away. He had been going crazy with worry, unsure if his gamble had paid off. He had a sinking feeling that he knew the answer to that now, with his teacher singling Izuku out with his gaze.

He had failed.

He would be expelled.

He wouldn't become a Hero.

He wouldn't –

"You…" Aizawa said slowly, drawing everyone's attention to Izuku. Most were curious as to why their teacher was calling on the green-haired boy, while the others wondered if he was about to be expelled. Slowly, their teacher walked closer to them until he stopped directly in front of Izuku. "This…" Aizawa said, turning the device in his hand towards Izuku. "This was your plan the entire time, wasn't it? Asking those questions…requesting that I announce the scores for each event…"

Instead of answering his teacher, Izuku just continued to stare at the screen the man was showing him, a look of slight disbelief shown on his face.

"Aizawa-sensei! Midoriya! What's going on?" came the voice of Iida to Izuku's right.

Neither Izuku nor Aizawa turned to look at the boy for a moment. Then Aizawa pulled the device back towards himself and turned to point it at the projection device that still laid where he had tossed it to the ground moments earlier. "What's going on…is this," the man said, tapping once on the device he held in his hand. Suddenly, the projection device turned on and a display came up above it, displaying everyone's scores. A moment of silence, and then…

"Wait…what?!"

"So if that's the case, then who…?"

"You've gotta be joking! Does this mean that both of them will…?"

There, displayed for all to see, was something none of them had expected. Of the twenty students in their class, Izuku Midoriya was placed 19th with a total of 31 points…and below that, was Mineta Minoru with a total of 31 points, also ranked at 19th.

Suddenly a girl with long black hair tied up in a spiky ponytail, who Izuku recognized as Yaoyorozu Momo, stepped forward. "Aizawa-sensei! Earlier, you asked Midoriya if 'this' was his plan," the girl stated, crossing her arms under her rather well-endowed chest. "Are you saying that he intended to tie for last place?" Aizawa nodded, confirming what the girl said. "Then why –"

"Because I said that the _one_ of you who received the lowest score would be expelled," Aizawa cut in, turning his head to look at Izuku for confirmation. "Isn't that right, Midoriya?"

Izuku nodded, not trusting himself to speak. The immense relief he felt at his plan working outweighed any of the discomfort he was currently feeling at being the center of attention.

Seeing that many of the students were still confused, Aizawa decided to explain things in more detail. "Earlier when I threatened to expel whichever one of you that received the lowest score, do you all remember what Midoriya asked?" Seeing most of them nod, the Erasure Hero continued, "He wasn't just asking those things randomly. He was looking for clarification that the _one_ of you that received the lowest score would be expelled. Then he asked about the scoring, and requested that I announce your points at the end of each event. He wasn't asking for this without reason…he wanted to keep track of the points that were given. _All_ of them," Aizawa explained, seeing several of his students gain looks of realization and surprise. "As some of you have realized by now…Midoriya tied in last place on purpose, closely monitoring all of your scores and trying to match his own with whoever had the lowest score. As such, there was no 'one' who had the lowest score…meaning that, for now, no one is going to be expelled."

By this point every student was staring at Izuku (who was starting to blush fiercely from all the attention he was getting), all of them left speechless after hearing Aizawa's explanation of the green-haired boy's actions.

Aizawa turned off the projection device and walked over to it, placing it back in his pocket. "We're done here," Aizawa called out, regaining the attention of his students. "All of you return to the classroom, your documents about the curriculum and such are there for you to pick up. After that you're free to leave. Except for you, Midoriya. You're coming with me to see Recovery Girl. She'll fix your finger."

With that, Aizawa began walking towards the U.A. building without even waiting for Izuku. Slightly surprised that his teacher would be accompanying him to see the school's nurse, the green-haired boy hurried to catch up the man.

Maybe he could question the Erasure Hero about his Quirk as they walked?

* * *

 **Alright, so there was a glimpse of the Izuku of this story rather than the one from canon. He shows his analytical traits to be a bit more prominent than in canon due to him spending so much time analyzing/researching for his notebooks. Also, the roof scene and his nightmares from a while ago play a role with the plan he made to make sure nobody was expelled, for those who picked up that detail. More explanation from him on that detail later. Next chapter will be his talk with Aizawa, his costume (altered from canon, at least somewhat), and the Heroes vs Villains simulation/test. Also, imaginary cookies to those of you who have read the manga and recognized the person who gave Izuku directions.**


	5. Hallucinations and Remedial Lessons

**Alright, first and foremost – I sincerely apologize for the unannounced hiatus! I had several medical issues, college, family obligations, work, and more all come up one after the other, and I just couldn't find the time and/or motivation to write. In my mind this does not excuse the break, but I wanted to at least give my reasons. HOWEVER, I did NOT stop working on the story. I would often work on Altruism's story design, work out rough drafts of scenes, develop the characters, and all that good stuff. I will not abandon this story unless something severe occurs and forces me to do so. As of now, I have an outline for how I want the next several** **arcs** **to happen. Also, this chapter is considerably longer than the previous ones as both an (admittedly insufficient) apology and to (hopefully) show that this story does indeed have the potential to be great and to be unique among BNHA fanfiction.**

 **On another note, the last chapter was received pretty well. The overall views shot way up, the story got a few more reviews (thanks for the feedback,** _ **please**_ **keep it coming!). It seems that the majority of people who were/are keeping up with this story are interested in the** _ **potential**_ **it has rather than being brought in by some big 'attention-grabber' at the start like most stories tend to begin with – though there is nothing wrong with those, of course! – and I'm quite happy to hear (err…read?) that, as it is precisely what I'm aiming for. Also, there were some (completely justified) comments expressing concern about having outright cut some scenes that were the same as canon. While this is the case for some things, I actually haven't 'cut' many of them. I intend to show them throughout upcoming chapters through flashbacks, as I have changed several from their canon counterparts.**

 **Sorry for the long AN, and I sincerely hope you all enjoy the new chapter of Altruism!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own My Hero Academia or any of the characters.**

* * *

Katsuki Bakugou was having a really, _really_ fucked-up year. Ever since the sludge freak (and _damn_ ,that thing had reeked so badly he'd first thought it to be a literal pile of shit – it took fucking forever to get rid of the smell) got the drop on him and went on a rampage using his Quirk, parts of his life just kept going to hell.

That day, it should have been him showing the world – showing _All Might_ – how awesome he was by thrashing the Villain and using the victory to kick off his Hero 'origin story' for his eventual rise to being the #1 Hero. That's how it _should_ have happened.

He…he was supposed to _win_. A true Hero is someone that will always win – someone like All Might.

Instead, he'd been humiliated. Taken hostage without even putting up a fucking fight, like he was just another damned _extra_. Still, he figured he could have lived with that level of embarrassment – he _had_ been taken by surprise, after all.

Katsuki knew that had it been an actual fight, he would have blown the fucking sludge bastard into chunks. But that wasn't the worst of it. Oh no, the embarrassment from letting a Villain get the drop on him and then being taken as a hostage paled at the mortification he felt when he saw _him_.

Not a Hero. Not even a Vigilante.

 _Deku._ Quirkless, shitty Deku was the one running to help him. Worse than that, despite the bold words he'd shouted at the damned nerd after he'd caught up to him on their way home, Katsuki Bakugou knew the truth.

Bakugou knew that the Quirkless loser, the same cowardly shrimp that flinched at every damn thing that moved, had most likely _saved his life_. When Deku hit the sludge bastard in the eye, he loosened his grip long enough for Katsuki to breathe again.

Even getting home that evening proved to be a pain in the ass, since his mother made sure he didn't get a single fucking minute to himself the rest of the evening. The old hag had seen the recording of the incident on some news station and kept pestering him about it for the rest of the night until he finally just locked himself in his room to get some rest.

As Katsuki drifted off to sleep that night, he could only be glad that the nightmare of a day was finally at an end. Who knows? Maybe he'd wake up the next morning and find everything back to normal, that it really _was_ just a bad dream. Optimistic thoughts and all that shit, right?

Of course, that was before he woke up the next morning and was promptly reminded why he didn't _do_ optimism and relied on his own awesomeness.

Optimism was a traitorous, villainous little _bitch_.

 _Flashback_

"The sun is… **HERE!** "

A fist surges out from a thin layer of blankets, only to come to a sudden halt above the source of All Might's voice – a small replica of the man himself, flexing his arms and wearing his 'Bronze Age' Hero Costume.

"Come now, wipe the crust from your eyes and tell the world that you are –!"

The fist unclenches and is lowered towards the replica with surprising gentleness, pushing All Might's arms down until his fists rested on his hips in a heroic pose and locked into place with a soft clicking sound.

Throwing his covers to the side, an exhausted Katsuki reluctantly moved his stiff body to be sitting at the edge of his bed and let out a frustrated groan as his memories of yesterday slowly came trickling back to him. Reaching for his phone to check out what the damned reporters were saying about the incident, Katsuki's hand came up empty.

A slight frown graced his drowsy features when he saw that it wasn't in its usual place on his nightstand. He shook his head, trying to clear the groggy haze enough to remember what he'd done with it before falling asleep last night.

"You had it in your hands when you fell asleep…maybe, uh…m-maybe it fell under your bed?" came a vaguely familiar voice from over by his desk.

Katsuki barely spared a bleary-eyed glance towards the green-haired source, only giving a slight grunt in agreement before lowering himself down and looking underneath his bed. Seeing his phone towards the back, Katsuki crawled forward until he was able to grab the device.

"How the hell did the damn thing even fall so far back here…?" he grumbled.

"Did you find it?" the voice asked.

"Yeah, yeah I got it. Damn thing fell down here, just like you –"

Katsuki froze, instantly snapping to full awareness as his system was flushed with adrenaline when he realized that _someone was in his fucking room and had been in there all night without him noticing!_

His hesitation lasted for less than a second before his body went into fight-or-fight mode ('flight' sure as hell wasn't an option for a real Hero – especially not when he could just kick their ass), rolling out from under the bed and using a controlled blast of his Quirk to lift himself to a standing position. Swinging his arms around, he thrust his palms towards the desk and prepared to _roast the_ _sick_ _motherfu-_

He flinched violently and stumbled back as if he'd been burned, face losing all semblance of color and twisting into an expression of shock. He tried to speak but found it hard to breathe, as if he was being suffocated again. Except this time there was no Villain. No threat that he could fight against.

It was a kid.

A kid with messy green hair, shining green eyes, and four freckles on each cheek arranged in very distinctive diamond formations.

A kidthat shouldn't – _couldn't –_ possibly be _sitting at his desk!_

"A-are you okay…?" _it_ asked him in a concerned tone, jumping down from the desk chair to walk towards him with soundless steps. Katsuki screwed his eyes shut, as if physically denying what he was seeing would make _it_ disappear.

 _This can't be…not you…!?_

"Kacchan…?"

Hearing _that_ name, Katsuki Bakugou's eyes shot open and landed on the figure that now stood right in front of him.

The kid's height barely even reached Katsuki's waist and was exactly as he remembered him to be at age four, right down to the tiniest detail. Finally remembering how to breathe, Katsuki let out a single word – strangled and barely above a whisper, yet somehow more deafening to his ears than any explosion his Quirk had ever produced.

" _Deku?_ "

 _End Flashback_

On the first morning, Katsuki (after finally accepting that he wasn't asleep and stuck in some horrible dream) soon found that nobody else could see or hear the young Deku – he reckoned his parents might have shown at least _some_ reaction to a fucking four-year-old hanging around while they ate breakfast.

Within that first week, he confirmed that Deku – the real, fourteen-year-old one – was still alive, and hadn't died and come back to haunt him as some sort of shitty ghost. It took a whole month after that until Katsuki was finally certain that it wasn't some bastard using their Quirk to make him see the young Deku (he would have fucking _roasted_ whatever prick had the balls to try that shit on him).

Hell, that probably would have been preferable – at least then he'd have someone to take his anger out on. Instead, he could only grudgingly acknowledge that the source of his newfound phantom was his own mind and he had no fucking clue how to get rid of the little bastard.

The green-haired pest was always around, seemingly completely free to act and speak as it pleased. And it was pleased to do just that. _Constantly_. Katsuki couldn't even tell the phantom Deku to _shut the hell up_ most of the time because nobody else could see or hear it and would think he'd gone mental.

It was maddening.

At one point, Katsuki had even considered going to his doctor about the issue. Of course, that idea was scrapped almost immediately. Telling people that he was seeing and hearing a hallucination of a young Deku? They'd probably try and stop him from becoming a Hero if he did that, bitching about 'mental instability' or some shit.

He was completely stable, thank you. He'd beat the hell out of any fucker that tried to say otherwise.

Of course, that really only left Katsuki with one option – ignoring the problem until it went away on its own. He even began ignoring the real Deku whenever possible (which was practically always, since the nerd was as insignificant as a pebble), for good measure. He'd gone _months_ without responding to the hallucination in hopes of it finally disappearing for good. The result?

"Kacchan! Did you see?! Did you see?! I have one! I have a Quirk! A Quirk, Kacchan! Me!" squealed the phantom of young Deku, an almost impossibly wide grin on his face while tears streamed from his eyes. "I'm not Quirkless after all!"

Katsuki didn't bother responding to phantom Deku (as usual), barely having heard the words at all. His rage, which had ignited so fiercely when he saw _Deku_ – the real one, not the hallucination – throw the ball, had all but disappeared by the time the bastard was being led away by their new teacher.

Now there was only an unsettling maelstrom of emotions left behind that he couldn't even begin to describe, or even fully explain _why_ he was feeling this way.

Completely ignoring the remaining extras, Katsuki just continued to stare blankly at the area where they'd been made to stand during the ball throwing test.

He saw small cracks in the ground, lines of broken concrete all converging at a single point. Cracks that weren't there at the beginning of the test. Cracks that weren't there after Katsuki used his own Quirk to throw the ball for his test. Cracks that weren't there _before_ Deku's throw. Cracks that _were_ there _after_ Deku's throw.

Despite it being his first day, Katsuki already knew a fair number of things about U.A., having researched it multiple times over the years since he'd always been certain that it would be where he would eventually receive his training to be a Hero.

He didn't know any amazing secrets, of course – U.A. had always been insanely skilled at keeping any (even slightly) sensitive information from leaking out to the public. Hell, even the general layout of the U.A. grounds was mostly unknown to the public since they somehow keep anyone from getting an overhead view of the place – even satellites can't get images of it.

Once – and only once – there was a scumbag journalist that tried to take pictures of the layout from the sky a few years back, making use of his mutant-type avian Quirk that allowed him to fly. Even Katsuki hadn't been able to help but feel a twinge of pity when he read the article that reported on the result when the man showed up again in police custody two days later, describing how the man's body was in pristine condition but that his mind was unhinged – apparently he had somehow developed a crushing fear of flying in those two days.

In any case, finding any information on the inner workings of U.A. without being a student or a member of the staff was damn impressive, requiring time and determination to find. Most people just didn't have these things, nor the talent or intelligence to have their efforts bear fruit.

Katsuki Bakugou, however, was certainly _not_ 'most people'. One of the things he _did_ know, was that all of the buildings and main areas – _especially_ training fields and the like – were all meticulously reinforced by the Quirk of Cementoss, one of the Pro Heroes that taught at U.A. This was not only for convenience – though it certainly saved U.A. time and money – but also as a security measure should there ever be a Villain that actually managed to get past the other defenses.

The idea of having the home-field advantage took on a whole new meaning when the fields _literally_ fought back, after all.

Knowing all this, Katsuki had absolutely no doubt in his mind that these areas were _damn_ sturdy and couldn't be broken easily.

And yet…there were cracks here, on this training field. Cracks that could have only been made with a Quirk. Cracks made by someone who was supposed to be _Quirkless_.

Katsuki had all of this information swirling around in his head, he knew that his logic was sound, and yet _it just didn't make any sense_. This was _Deku_ , for fuck's sake! He was just a damn nerd! A Quirkless, _shitty Deku!_ Someone that Katsuki had cut any ties of friendship with long ago, having known that the useless bastard couldn't even be his sidekick without a Quirk.

Katsuki had made it clear time and time again over the years that the other boy didn't have the strength it takes to be a Hero, the strength to fight against a dangerous Villain! To do so without a Quirk, even a weak-as-fuck one, was damn suicidal!

And now…now Katsuki was supposed to just accept that the other boy actually did have a Quirk? One that was strong enough to crack the training field _as a side effect?!_ Why the hell did this even matt-

"Kacchan?" asked the phantom Deku, its voice somehow cutting through Katsuki's tumultuous thoughts. Turning his head from where he'd been staring blankly at the cracks in the concrete, Katsuki saw that it was now peering up at him from his right side. "The others went back inside a long time ago, it's just us now…and Aizawa-sensei said to get your documents from the classroom…shouldn't we go?"

Roused from his thoughts, Katsuki looked around and saw that they really were the only two that were still out there. He left his phone back in his gym locker before coming out here, so he had no way of knowing how long he'd been standing there for. Judging by the stiffness of his body though, he'd definitely been there for a while.

"Kacchan? Are you okay?" Katsuki closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm himself – he _hated_ when he- _it_ asked him that question. It was just like that day at the river, back when they were kids. Like he was being looked down on, as if someone awesome like him would ever need help from trash like Deku!

Snarling, Katsuki turned away and started towards the locker room he'd used earlier. Before he could get far, the phantom Deku called out once more.

"Kacchan! Now that I have a Quirk…now that I can be a Hero too…do you think we'll be able to go back to being friends?" he asked, hope practically oozing from his voice along with a tinge of desperation and longing.

Katsuki finally snapped, each palm letting off one small but incredibly loud explosion. Katsuki swung his body around to glare down at the phantom Deku, who took half a step back when he saw the larger boy's enraged expression.

"Like **HELL** we could! Why the FUCK would I ever want that? To go back to being friends with a useless, shitty nerd like you- like him?! I'd sooner become friends with the motherfucking sludge bastard than I would with _Deku_!" he finished, chest heaving.

Not interested in hearing a response, Katsuki turned again to leave. He stopped for a brief moment, his gaze briefly lingering once more on the cracked concrete, before snarling and walking away with his fists clenched at his sides.

As he walked away, Katsuki missed the way phantom Deku's stunned look slowly turned into a happy smile and even seemed to become somewhat hopeful. After all…he hadn't been ignored.

For the first time in months, Katsuki had spoken to him again.

* * *

 _Moments after the test…_

Walking next to his new teacher, Izuku Midoriya couldn't help but feel…overwhelmed. And a little nauseous. His nerves were still frayed from the test – something that normally would have been stressful enough even _without_ the risk of expulsion or his (admittedly absurd) plan to force a tie. Honestly, he was surprised that he was keeping himself together as well as he was.

He didn't feel like he would pass out anymore, at least. That was nice.

Naturally, part of Izuku was incredibly relieved that nobody had been expelled. On the other hand, part of him couldn't believe just how _stupid_ he had been to risk everything by trying to tie for last place among the test scores.

It wasn't like he had originally been certain to score well in the events and pass the test, even without making it harder with such an idea! Just thinking about it made Izuku want to kick himself for taking such a risk, and yet…

He couldn't. To do so would be the same as Izuku saying he regretted what he had done – like saying he wouldn't do such a thing again. An almost inaudible sigh escaped his lips, already knowing what his answer would always be in similar situations.

As if his inner unease alone wasn't enough, Izuku could practically feel the stares of his classmates piercing his back as he walked away from the training field. Their stares and the pain coming from the finger he'd channeled One For All into only served to add to his discomfort – though at least the finger was tolerable.

What's more, Izuku noticed that even Mr. Aizawa would occasionally glance at him as they walked. The Erasure Hero hadn't said a word, but his continued silence was only making the green-haired student even more nervous.

 _Why does he keep glancing at me? Why hasn't he said anything? Is he upset about what I did in the test?_ Izuku wondered worriedly, feeling yet another wave of unease hit him as his teacher tossed another glance his way. _Maybe I should say something to try and start a conversation to break the tension, but maybe that wouldn't be a good idea since he seems so focused right now and doesn't seem to be very talkative, but if I don't say anything then the uneasy feeling will continue to build and then things will be even more–_

"Stop mumbling. It's creepy," came Aizawa's voice, startling Izuku out of his thoughts and causing him to stumble slightly.

"Eh?!" Izuku nearly shouted, a fierce blush blooming on his face. "Sorry! I didn't realize I was mumbling. It's a habit of mine when I'm nervous or when I'm too focused on something and I don't always realize it even though I know it tends to creep people out and I'm always –"

"Enough! You're doing it again," his teacher said brusquely, cutting Izuku off but notably lacking any real bite behind the words. Turning his head just enough to glare at his student. "Do it again and I'll use this," Aizawa gestured to his scarf, "to keep you quiet until we get to Recovery Girl's office."

Izuku paled and quickly shut his mouth, his teeth slamming down with a sharp click.

"Now, you're gonna explain what you were thinking back there with the stunt you pulled," Aizawa said, regaining his calm demeanor. "It was risky and irrational. I was serious about expelling the one with the lowest score – I've expelled entire classes in the past. If you were off by a single point, that person would have been you. If I hadn't followed what I said so literally, both of you would have been expelled," he said seriously, glancing at the green-haired youth walking beside him. "Now spill, and if you start rambling again…" Aizawa adjusted his scarf, letting the threat hang. The two reached the U.A. building and walked inside, the halls devoid of people due to classes still being in session.

Izuku's shoulders sagged a little and he remained quiet for a moment, thinking over what his teacher had said. Everything the Erasure Hero had said was true. There was no rational reason for Izuku to have risked being expelled in that test. He had nearly been expelled when Mineta had received a perfect score in the side-stepping test. If the boy had scored even a single point more overall, or Izuku one less…he really would have been expelled.

Everything he had been through in the last few months, everything All Might had done for him…it all would have gone to waste just because he didn't want to see a classmate have their dream crushed. He didn't want that to happen because…

Memories of a certain rooftop flashed in his mind, a familiar hint of despair touching upon his senses.

Letting out a sigh and taking a deep breath to try and calm his nerves, Izuku lowered his eyes a bit and refrained from looking at his teacher. "I…I had a…friend. He was part of that 20% of the population who are Quirkless," Izuku started, trying to keep an even tone. "He…well, since he was a little kid, he had always dreamed of being a Hero. He didn't want to do it for fame, or money, or anything like that. He just…wanted to save people. Being Quirkless, however, meant that he couldn't be a Hero. People always _laughed_ at him, if he ever mentioned his dream to be a Hero. They'd make it clear that he would never achieve his dream, that he'd never be able to save anyone…that he'd never be more than _a useless, Quirkless, shitty_ De-"

The green-haired youth trailed off, eyes becoming slightly unfocused as he lost himself in his memories – were he more aware, he likely would have freaked out at having cursed in front of a teacher. It was more luck than anything that he managed to stop himself from saying 'Deku'.

Shaking himself from his thoughts after a few moments, he cleared his throat and followed his teacher up a staircase. "Uh, anyways…a few years later, he happened to meet the Hero he admired more than any other Hero. They talked for a while, and when he asked the Hero if he could be a Hero too, despite being Quirkless…well, the Hero told him it was impossible. He knew what the answer would be, really, but to hear it from the Hero he'd admired for so long…it finally crushed his dream. He lost all hope and almost…"

Izuku flinched a bit at the memory of what he'd nearly done on that roof all those months ago. Aizawa noticed the flinch and the slight watering of his student's eyes, but chose not to comment.

"Anyways, that's basically why I did that today with the test. I've seen what happens when someone has their dream of being a Hero crushed and I just…I guess I didn't want anyone else to go through that."

Aizawa remained silent after Izuku finished speaking, the two of them reaching the top of the staircase and turning to go down a hall on their left.

After walking down two more hallways without a response, Izuku glanced over at the disheveled man to see that he was…annoyed? Of all the ways which Izuku had expected Mr. Aizawa to react to his answer, annoyance wasn't one of them! Why would he –

"You're…exhausting," Aizawa said suddenly, letting out a tired sigh. "You're a reckless kid, but somehow you still manage to be rational…it's the first day and I'm already getting a headache just thinking about having you in my class for the rest of the year," the man said while giving a slight glare towards Izuku.

Turning his attention away from his green-haired student, Aizawa slowed his pace and came to a halt. Before Izuku could think of a response – and really, what could he even say to that? – the Erasure Hero gestured to a door on Izuku's right. "We're here."

Turning to look at the door, Izuku saw that there was a sign marking it as the infirmary. Relieved that he could finally have his finger fixed (which was starting to throb quite painfully now) and grateful that Mr. Aizawa was no longer glaring at him, Izuku used his uninjured hand to slide the door open. Walking inside, Izuku saw a surprisingly ordinary infirmary just as one would find at any other high school in Japan, though perhaps a bit more spacious.

 _I don't see Recovery Girl,_ Izuku thought as his eyes combed over the room in search for the school nurse. _Did she step out for a while?_ Just as Izuku was about to question his teacher about the missing nurse, Aizawa walked past him while letting out a yawn.

…and then proceeded to crawl into one of the vacant infirmary beds, drawing the privacy curtains and hiding himself from view.

Izuku could only stare at the privacy curtains dumbly, almost unsure if he had really seen that happen. Sure, Izuku had been surprised when his teacher had decided to accompany him, but…Mr. Aizawa hadn't wanted to come with him to the infirmary as an excuse for taking a nap, right?

…right?

"Ai-Aizawa-sensei…?" Izuku called out hesitantly. He really didn't want to disturb the man, but his finger…

"I'm exhausted from teaching today. Recovery Girl will be back soon, so just have a seat on an empty bed and wait quietly," came Aizawa's voice from behind the privacy curtains.

… _exhausted from teaching? We didn't even have an actual class! The test only lasted a little over an hour, and he even called off our classes for the rest of the day,_ Izuku thought in disbelief. How could a Pro Hero already be –?

Izuku's eyes lit up in realization, feeling foolish for not figuring it out sooner.

 _That's it! Even though he's a teacher at U.A., he's still a Pro Hero! He was probably out doing Hero work last night. To protect people and still take the time to be a teacher at U.A… no wonder he's so tired!_ Izuku felt his respect for his teacher grow at the thought of the man being so selfless. _I wonder if he'd let me ask him about his exploits as Eraser Head…it's so hard to get any information about him since he hates the media and avoids them as much as he can, but maybe he'd be willing to tell me since I'm his student…? Oh! I can't believe I forgot to ask him about his Quirk! I'm curious about his hair…why does it raise up when he's using his Quirk? I didn't notice at the time, but his eyes also seemed like they might have been glowing red a bit. Was that my imagination or another side-effect of him activating his Quirk? Does he have a limit on the range he can use it at, or does he simply have to have them in his sights? No, that can't be right, my research showed that what little is known about Eraser Head's fighting style indicates that he's an expert at close range combat and earlier he was using his scarf to stop Kacchan, I think he called it a Capturing Weapon, so I wonder if –_

A chill went down Izuku's spine and a feeling of dread settled in his gut. Slowly looking around for the source of his unease, Izuku's eyes fell on the form of his teacher standing inside the now-open privacy curtain. The man's hair was draped over his face, hiding an expression that would have undoubtedly had Izuku running home.

The slow loosening of his scarf, however, gave Izuku the feeling that running wasn't really an option.

"You're mumbling again…" Aizawa said, irritation clear in his tone. As the man's hair slowly began to rise up and the world around Izuku went grey, the green-haired youth had a single thought.

 _His eyes really do glow red when he uses his Quirk._

* * *

"That's amazing…my finger is completely fine," Izuku said in slight awe, examining the finger that had been badly broken mere moments before. Now, however, it was in perfect condition thanks to Recovery Girl's Quirk. "Though…for some reason I'm a little tired now…is that because of your Quirk? Does it use up the energy of the person you heal as a side effect?" he asked, looking at the short, elderly woman who served as the nurse of U.A.

Izuku knew of Recovery Girl and her Quirk – simply known as 'Heal' – of course, thanks to his own Quirk research and because she was rather famous due to the rarity of her type of Quirk. Unfortunately, the specifics of her Quirk were actually unknown despite her fame in the medical world. To the average observer, it just seemed to heal injuries and therefore anything beyond that was speculation.

To have the chance to not only ask questions about such an amazing Quirk to the legendary healer herself, but even being able to experience the effects of it firsthand? He couldn't waste such an opportunity! If only he'd been able to grab one of his notebooks before coming to the infirmary…!

"How astute of you," Recovery Girl complimented with a kind, gentle smile on her wrinkled face. As she began bandaging his now-healed finger, she chuckled at the look of awed curiosity upon his face.

"My Quirk, plainly labeled as 'Heal', is administered with a kiss. The name is actually a little misleading, as it greatly strengthens your own healing factor, rather than doing the actual healing itself. As such, it allows your body to heal wounds that it normally wouldn't be able to heal on its own and in a much shorter amount of time. As you've guessed, your body is the one supplying the energy needed for the healing process. Naturally, more severe injuries will drain you of more energy. There is some risk in that if too much of a patient's energy is used up at once then they could quite literally die of exhaustion, though I _can_ control how much someone's healing factor is strengthened and make sure that such a thing doesn't happen. In short, if you keep injuring yourself like this then eventually you won't have enough stamina left to be healed when you need it most and could end up dying. Now with that said, eat these to regain a bit of energy," Recovery Girl instructed as she grabbed a Kamui Woods Pez dispenser (which Izuku recognized as a limited edition and knew it to be quite sought after by certain groups of people) from her doctor's lab coat and handed Izuku a few pieces of the candy.

Doing as he was told, Izuku was pleasantly surprised to find that they were cherry flavor.

"Still, I can't say I condone a student injuring themselves to this extent," the school nurse continued, regaining Izuku's attention and causing him to wince a bit at the slight chastisement. "And while I'm glad that you seem to be taking steps to reduce the severity of the harm your Quirk causes, I must advise that you proceed with extreme caution when you train. If you train with your Quirk while unsupervised and make a mistake, you could damage your body just as badly as you did during the entrance exam, perhaps even worse."

Izuku gave a small jolt at that, looking at Recovery Girl with wide eyes. He hadn't mentioned that he'd been practicing with One For All, nor had he said anything in regards to the training he'd managed to come up with thanks to his research notes. Yet the elderly woman in front of him somehow knew.

Before he could ask her how she had known, Recovery Girl just raised her hand to halt his unasked question and gave a wry smile.

"If you're wondering, I merely guessed at it after observing your injury this time and comparing it to your injuries from the entrance exam. Other than slightly reducing the severity of the damage to your bones, there was something quite different about your injury this time. Though with your reaction, I have to wonder if you'd even realized it yourself?" Recovery Girl questioned. After a few moments, Izuku slowly shook his head. He had broken his finger quite badly when he'd used One For All earlier, just as he'd done to his legs and right arm during the entrance exam. What was different?

"Well, I can't say I'm too surprised. You were barely conscious and rather distraught at the end of the entrance exam, so you probably didn't even get a good look at your injuries before I used my Quirk to heal them," the elderly nurse said, frowning slightly at the memory of the green-haired boy's injuries.

"Along with severely breaking your bones and tearing your muscles, your skin had burst open at various points across the injured limbs. This time, however, the skin was left quite strained but just _barely_ kept from rupturing…almost as if it had become somewhat accustomed to the strain of you using your Quirk. I am unsure how it is you're actually doing this, however. You obviously aren't going around breaking your body just to condition it to withstand your Quirk – as insane as that would be – so might I inquire as to what it is that you're actually doing?"

"Uh, w-well…" Izuku stuttered, both because he was surprised at just how sharp the woman's mind was and because that actually _was_ similar to what he had been doing, to an extent. Even he hadn't noticed the difference in his injuries, and therefore hadn't known that his research and training method were already paying off, even if only a little. For her to notice such a minor detail and come to the conclusion she did spoke volumes of her experience and keen intellect.

Realizing that he still hadn't answered the elderly woman's questions, Izuku cleared his throat and began explaining.

"Y-you see, after the entrance exam I realized that I really, _really_ needed to find a way to use my Quirk without destroying my body every time and I, uh…I have this – this hobby of researching Quirks and the ones who use them. I just kind of…went through my notes and eventually found a few Quirks that had repercussions for the user. About two weeks ago, I finally came up with a training method after combining some ideas from my notes on the Quirks of two people, one a Hero and the other a Villain…err, basically the Hero had a Quirk that made him stronger against injuries he'd suffered before, like being more resistant to burns after being burnt, so he'd intentionally give himself light injuries in various ways a little at a time to force his body to gradually become more resilient and such. And the Villain had a Quirk that poisoned his own body when he used it, but that also strengthened his body against other poisons because it was so used to dealing with his own, more potent poison…" Izuku trailed off a bit at seeing Recovery Girl arch an eyebrow, realizing that he'd started rambling.

Refocusing and taking a calming breath, Izuku continued his explanation. "A-anyways, I thought that maybe if I channeled my Quirk but didn't release it, then maybe my body wouldn't suffer the full repercussions and would become accustomed to the strain. I've only tried it by channeling my Quirk to my right hand, and I can't do it very often or for very long because of the strain it puts on my hand when I continuously channel it, and I wasn't even sure if it was working, but…well, I-I guess it's working a little," Izuku finished a bit sheepishly, embarrassed that he hadn't even known if his training method had been working. Heck, he _still_ wouldn't have known if it wasn't for Recovery Girl mentioning the difference in his injury today compared to those which he'd received at the entrance exam.

Recovery Girl remained quiet for a few moments as she processed what she'd heard from the young man sitting across from her. Izuku felt more nervous with each passing moment, unsure if he was going to be berated by the elderly nurse for his…questionable (or insane, as she had put it earlier) training method.

Sure, it wasn't as severe as what she had been implying, but he rather doubted that a nurse would truly approve of a training method where he intentionally strained his body to the point of nearly being badly injured just to strengthen it.

Izuku hadn't said it, but this method of his was…well, painful.

The sudden strain it causes would obviously result in considerable damage to his body, and someone like Recovery Girl would know that. It wasn't like the gradual damage one suffers when exercising their body and building up their muscles; that would allow any damage build up slowly and in such a way that the human body could repair itself at a fairly similar pace. It also wasn't the slow process of the body adapting to its natural Quirk, like what happens to most people over several years after they develop their Quirk at a young age.

It was probably more accurate to say that rather than damaging his body, Izuku's method was _destroying_ his body a little bit at a time and forcing it to adapt and toughen itself up when repairing the damage so as to reduce the strain in the future. Similar to what the body would naturally do over the years, just condensed into a much shorter time frame.

The only real cost was the intense pain he'd have to bear after the training. That, and the considerable risk of him screwing up. If he were to lose control for even a single moment, he'd likely end up shattering his body and risk permanent injury.

Unfortunately, he really didn't have a choice but to take the risk. He _had_ to do everything he could to become able to wield One For All properly. To be a _Hero_.

Plus Ultra…right?

"Goodness gracious…" Recovery Girl finally said with a sigh, distracting Izuku from his thoughts. "Part of me wants to scold you for using such a dangerous method to train your body, while the other part of me can't deny that there is at least some merit to this… 'training'," she said, the last word coming out in clear distaste. "As such, from now on I must _insist_ that you don't train like this on your own – though you already _shouldn't_ have been for both practical and legal reasons. Instead, you will do it here in my office so that I will be around to keep an eye on you and make sure you aren't doing permanent damage to your body. Know that the only reason I'm even willing to allow even that much rather than stop you outright is because I know all too well just how dangerous that Quirk is if your body isn't properly conditioned for it." Izuku vaguely felt there was something off about how she referred to his Quirk, but didn't have time to think about it before she started again.

"Also, you will _not_ be training like this more than two, maybe three times a week. If I find that this method of yours even hints at permanently damaging your body, I'll put an end to it immediately. _Understood_?" the elderly nurse asked sternly, somehow giving Izuku the feeling that he didn't actually have a choice.

Not seeing any reason to argue – and not being either brave enough or careless enough to upset the woman after what she'd done prior to healing his finger – Izuku gave several swift nods of agreement to her conditions. "Good. Well, despite your reckless methods, you at least _seem_ to have a good head on your shoulders. So, I'll let you off easily. _This_ time."

"Let me off easily too. I'm too tired for this nonsense," came Aizawa's dull voice, surprising Izuku as he had somehow forgotten that the man was still there. Turning towards the sound, both Izuku and Recovery Girl saw the disheveled man looking rather…uncomfortable.

Understandable, really, considering that he was pinned to the wall by his clothing and a multitude of scalpels.

Recovery Girl could be quite scary when she wanted to be, Izuku had learned. As his teacher began negotiating for his release, the green-haired boy couldn't help but shudder as he remembered just how his teacher had found himself in his current situation.

 _FLASHBACK_

 _This is ridiculous! How the heck does he even use it!?_ Izuku thought in frustration, struggling against the absurdly strong cloth that restrained him. He'd been trying to free himself for nearly ten minutes, but his legs and arms were still just as immobilized as they had been when Mr. Aizawa had first captured him with it.

Fortunately, his teacher had been kind enough to lay Izuku on one of the infirmary beds in a way that didn't aggravate his injured finger. Not that Izuku had been able to thank the man for it since the cloth was also covering his mouth, something the older man had done to 'preserve his own sanity', or however he'd put it.

Finally resigning himself to wait for his release, Izuku let out a long exhale through his nose and tried to relax himself. He was actually fairly comfortable, despite his current position. Sure, his finger was still hurting, but it seemed that the pain was finally lessening naturally – or maybe he was just getting used to it? He supposed it didn't really matter either way, it would be taken care of when Recovery Girl returned.

Just as he closed his eyes to take a short nap, Izuku heard the sound of the infirmary door sliding open behind him. Snapping his eyes open, Izuku strained against his bindings to try and turn his head to look over his shoulder so that he could see who it was but found that he couldn't even do that much.

Listening as the person slid the door to a close and began walking, Izuku felt some relief and a bit of excitement when he heard the sounds of something repeatedly tapping the ground, accompanying those made by the person's steady footsteps. After all, he was well aware that Recovery Girl – whom he was quite excited to meet – always walked with a cane designed like a syringe wherever she went.

Izuku's heart soared when the Pro Hero in question stepped into his line of sight as she walked around his infirmary bed, syringe-cane and all. She stopped near his head and despite the fact that Izuku was laying down, the woman's diminutive stature meant that she was only barely able to stand above him. Though it was a little difficult for him to tell due to the visor of her helmet, she seemed to be looking at him with a slightly exasperated expression and scrunched her face in displeasure when her eyes rested upon the cloth that bound him. Izuku called out to the woman, letting his relief seep into his voice.

"Mmmph! Hmm hmph hmm!"

…or at least, he tried to. Bit difficult to do that thanks to the cloth covering his mouth.

Even so, his relief seemed to be conveyed well enough for Recovery Girl to understand and the elderly woman gave Izuku a comforting smile. She briefly ran her eyes over his body (ignoring the very familiar bindings that her patient wore – _for now_ ), her years of medical experience kicking in as she quickly scanned the green-haired boy for injuries.

Almost immediately she found that the only visible injury was that of a single finger on the boy's right hand, the digit obviously having suffered severe trauma that was almost the exact same as what had happened to the boy's arm and legs during the entrance exam.

Almost.

Recovery Girl subtly arched an eyebrow when she noticed one rather peculiar difference, but chose not to comment on it in favor of helping the poor boy.

"Mmmph hmph?!"

Izuku was rather surprised when the nurse suddenly gave him a long – and almost comically loud – kiss on his forehead. He didn't have to wonder about it for long, however, as he suddenly felt a rush of warmth spread throughout his body and gather in his injured finger.

The pain he'd been feeling quickly dissolved into nothingness, and though he couldn't turn to look at it thanks to his bindings, Izuku knew that his finger had been healed.

 _So, this is Recovery Girl's Quirk, 'Heal'?_ Izuku thought in wonder. _It's so…gentle._

"Any other injuries, young man? Blink your right eye for yes, and your left eye for no," Recovery Girl requested kindly, to which Izuku responded to by blinking his left eye. "Good. Now, I'll have you released from those bindings in just a moment, dear."

To Izuku's confusion, Recovery Girl smiled and pulled out several gleaming scalpels from inside her lab coat.

Was she planning to cut through it?

The elderly nurse turned and walked out of Izuku's sight, still smiling while holding her syringe-cane in one hand and scalpels in the other. Confused and still unable to move, Izuku had to rely on his sense of hearing to tell him what was happening outside of his field of view. He heard Recovery Girl stop walking just a couple of feet away, and what sounded like the sliding of curtains.

"Aizawa Shota, get out of that bed and release your student this instant," Recovery Girl said sternly.

"…he's less troublesome like this. I'll release him when I'm done with my nap," came Aizawa's tired reply.

Izuku couldn't see her, but from the chill that ran down his spine he knew that Recovery Girl hadn't liked that answer.

"Oh? You surprise me, Shota…" Recovery Girl's tone was light, but Izuku was starting to shake from an overwhelming pressure that suddenly filled the room. "I thought that I'd taught you the rules of _my_ infirmary quite clearly back when you were a student. Perhaps you need a…remedial lesson?"

"…I remember those lessons _painfully_ well, thank you," Aizawa said slowly. Izuku almost thought he heard just a slight tremble to his teacher's voice, but it must have been his imagination…right? This was the Pro Hero, Eraser Head! A man who went out at night and fought Villains! He couldn't be scared of the school nurse, an elderly woman who wasn't even half his size! The very idea was almost laughable!

…right?

"Really? Then perhaps you'd like to explain why you _used your capture tool on one of my injured patients_ , in _my_ infirmary? I believe I taught you not to do such things to my patients back in your second year, when you tied up an injured Yamada using his own bandages?"

"Mic was being insufferably –" Aizawa stopped abruptly. "…why are you holding scalpels?"

"Didn't I already tell you?" Recovery Girl asked, her words seemingly polite and yet her tone frighteningly cold. "Remedial lessons."

He was sure that Mr. Aizawa would deny this – not that Izuku would ever be foolish enough to ask the man about it – but he could have sworn that he heard him let out a small whimper as Recovery Girl began her 'Remedial Lesson'.

Suddenly Izuku was rather thankful that he couldn't see what was happening, and even when he felt his bindings go slack, he still refused to look until he was certain that Recovery Girl was done 'teaching'.

 _END FLASHBACK_

Izuku silently swore to himself that he would _never_ cross the nurse of U.A. High School. Shaking his head, Izuku returned his attention to the conversation between Recovery Girl and his pinned teacher.

"…my patients again, you won't be getting away with it so easily. Understood?"

"…fine, just hurry up and pull out these scalpels so that I can leave," Aizawa replied, scowling like a chastised child.

Recovery Girl let out a sigh and turned around, walking to the door and sliding it open. She stopped and said, "Fine, you're both free to go. Young man, remember what I said about my Quirk and make sure to get plenty of rest. I'll let you know when your first training session with me is to be held, so until then don't even _think_ about using that method of yours. As for you…" Recovery Girl turned to look directly at Aizawa, smirking. "I'm sorry, I think I'll let you free yourself. I would, but… _I'm too tired for this nonsense_."

With those very _familiar_ words ringing in their ears, the elderly nurse walked out of the room. Izuku and Aizawa both stared at the empty doorway in silence, one torn between disbelief and amusement while the other was just…

Done _._

With the school. With the students (one in particular – guess who?). With irritating old nurses who carry far too many scalpels on their person. With everything.

Absolutely. Done.

Regaining his focus, Izuku turned towards his pinned teacher and couldn't help but feel a twinge of pity at the sight of the man. Between his disheveled appearance, clear exhaustion, and the look of surrender on his face…he looked more like a run-down vagrant than an amazing Hero.

Though he technically wasn't at fault, Izuku still couldn't help but feel like he was partly to blame for the man's current situation. Walking to the wall that Aizawa was pinned to, Izuku began pulling the scalpels out of his clothes – something that was surprisingly difficult to do with how deeply the blades had been embedded into the stone wall.

 _Another reason to never anger Recovery Girl,_ Izuku noted with some apprehension. _She's astonishingly strong for an old lady, if these scalpels are any indication…_

Pulling the last scalpel out, Izuku stepped away and gave his – now free – teacher some space. Knowing that he would probably try to leave immediately, Izuku mustered up his courage. There was something he absolutely needed to ask of his new teacher.

"Aizawa-sensei? I, uh, I was hoping that I could, maybe…ask you for a favor?" Izuku asked timidly, cautious of irritating him again. The man (reluctantly) motioned for the green-haired boy to continue, but the look Aizawa shot him clearly warned retribution if Izuku didn't choose his next words carefully.

As Izuku began explaining what he wanted the man to do and stressed his reasons for why he believed this was important, Aizawa's expression turned pensive. That was a good sign. Probably. It was better than the intimidating one he had before, at least.

When the explanation was finished, Aizawa remained quiet and stared at his new student intently, searching for any signs of doubt or reluctance. For some flash of pride or hint of smug satisfaction – anything at all that might contradict the seemingly selfless nature of the request.

After all, it wouldn't be the first time a student put on airs in hopes of creating a more benevolent image of themselves than they really were. He'd come across several such students throughout his teaching career, all scheming to get ahead of their peers and later flaunt their supposed superiority.

They really thought that they could become Heroes with such dishonest, arrogant personalities?

He'd expelled them all before their first day was out.

Surprisingly – or maybe not so surprising, considering what he'd seen of the boy thus far – all Aizawa could see from the green-haired teen before him was an earnest determination that was almost palpable. Clear green eyes that shone with something almost…familiar, though Aizawa couldn't quite recall where he'd seen it before. This request…

He liked it.

"Alright, we'll do things your way. But know that if I do this, then what you did will be seen as an 'effort' rather than a 'deed' as far as your classmates are concerned," Aizawa warned. "A small difference to you, perhaps, but to them…"

"I understand," Izuku said, unwavering. "Still, I think this is what's best – for everyone." He knew what it meant, asking Mr. Aizawa to do this. That after this, what he'd done would seem much less significant to his classmates. A memory from his first day of training with All Might came to mind, his mentor explaining the importance of a Hero always doing noble deeds, unglamorous or otherwise.

"The attention from it would just get in the way when I have to try and work together with them. Besides, being a Hero is more about doing volunteer work rather than acquiring fame or glory anyways, right?" he asked, though more to himself than his teacher as a soft, fond smile tugged at his features. Memories of that day were some of his favorite, after all – despite the pain and exhaustion he'd felt at the time.

As Izuku lost focus and began drifting in the sea of his own memories, Aizawa turned away and began gathering up his scarf from where Recovery Girl had thrown it on the floor. Had he been more aware, Izuku might have noticed the way that his teacher's features softened slightly, or how his mouth twitched upwards at his student's words. As the scarf settled in its usual place upon his shoulders, Aizawa reached up and gently ran a finger along his goggles. That bright, selfless personality…

 _Kind of reminds me of you, eh…Shirakumo?_

Deciding to slip out while his student was distracted, Aizawa silently made for the open door. Just as he reached it, however…

"Oh, and Aizawa-sensei! About your Quirk…"

 _Damn it._

As Izuku began following him out and firing off questions, Aizawa couldn't help but feel that teaching his new students would certainly be…

Exhausting.

* * *

"Ahh…the Hero's Bowl really is the best," Izuku said happily, a content sigh passing his lips as he relaxed back a bit more into his chair.

The large bowl in front of him (which was covered in a beautifully done painting that made it appear as if All Might was holding the bowl upon his shoulders – a design that was inspired by an incident where All Might had once caught the dome of the Tokyo Sky Egg after a Villain with some sort of explosion Quirk set the tower into a free fall), previously filled to the brim with rich katsudon, now sat without even a single grain of rice remaining of his mother's signature dish. Indeed, the Inko Midoriya Deluxe Katsudon – the 'Hero's Bowl' – was undoubtedly the pinnacle of all katsudon and Izuku would fight anyone who said differently.

Anyone. Detroit Smash – right to their face. A bit harsh, perhaps. But if there really ever were to be a person that tried to speak badly of the Hero's Bowl? Such a person would probably be a Villain anyways. And a liar, because surely even a Villain would be able to understand and appreciate good food.

Not that any Villain would ever get the chance to have a taste of the Hero's Bowl…but still, his reasoning stood.

"Oops…!" his mother exclaimed somewhat softly, interrupting Izuku's musings. He looked over to her just in time to see one of her chopsticks disappear over the edge of the table, dropping down to the floor with a light thud. "How clumsy…you'd think I'd know how to hang onto my chopsticks by now," she said, smiling softly at her own joke as she got up to retrieve the dropped utensil.

Izuku couldn't help but frown as he saw the action, a familiar weight of guilt settling over him.

"Be back in just a moment, just need to give this a quick rinse!" Inko said cheerfully, still smiling. Ever since he'd told her about his acceptance to U.A, his mother had been in one of the best moods Izuku had seen from her in years.

She'd been particularly happy after he'd told her about his day – a somewhat modified version, admittedly. After all, he somehow didn't think she'd react too well to hearing about him being injured on his first day at U.A. Or to the part about how his new teacher had resorted to physically restraining him.

Definitely not the part about how Izuku been the one to cause his own injury…something that would be particularly difficult to explain since he hadn't actually gotten around to telling her about One For All.

Or the fact that he now had a Quirk at all. This was something that only made him feel even more guilt, but he could never seem to muster up the courage to talk to her about it. It wasn't like he'd tried to _hide_ the fact that he had a Quirk, per say…he just hadn't actually mentioned it to her, either. Part of him wanted to tell her everything, to let her know that he was going to be a Hero like All Might – _precisely_ like All Might.

Even though he'd been accepted into U.A.'s Hero Course and was going to train to be a Hero, Izuku got the feeling that his mother was under the impression that he was going to become some sort of Rescue Hero – and one that only evacuated civilians while the other Heroes took care of all the fighting against the Villains, at that. He could tell that she hadn't even considered the idea of _him_ being the one to risk his life fighting against those dangerous Villains.

If he were to tell her now, then Izuku was certain that she'd worry herself into an early grave. So, while he _wanted_ to tell her, every time he tried to…he just couldn't bring himself to do it. He'd think of how cheerful his mother had become these days and lose his nerve.

She'd always had a cheerful disposition, sure, but ever since he'd been accepted into U.A.'s Hero Course…one would think that _she_ was the one achieving a life-long dream rather than Izuku. It's not like he couldn't understand it at all – he knew that his mother had always blamed herself for him being Quirkless. It hadn't been her fault, of course, but Izuku knew that the guilt had constantly eaten away at her over the years nonetheless.

After he had been diagnosed as Quirkless, she had…changed. She'd spent the years after that day constantly devoting her time and efforts to him and his needs at the cost of neglecting herself. She had almost completely stopped hanging out with her best friend, Mitsuki Bakugou – Kacchan's mother.

No longer did she put in the effort it took to maintain her own physical standards – standards which had once caused many to often mistake her for a fashion model due to her beauty. Though the current Inko Midoriya wasn't really what one would consider fat, it couldn't be denied that she had put on a considerable amount of weight over the years as a result of not taking care of herself properly. And the most significant change…

Izuku remembered how she'd dropped her chopstick, and how she had then gotten up from her seat to physically retrieve it from where it had fallen. With her Quirk, she could have retrieved the fallen utensil without even leaving her chair. Better yet, she could have stopped the chopstick from falling to the ground in the first place.

But she didn't.

In all the years since he had been diagnosed as Quirkless, his mother hadn't used her Quirk. Not even _once_. Sure, her Quirk wasn't exactly the most impressive or the most useful of abilities given that she could only attract small objects to herself within a fairly short distance, but it was certainly more than adequate for use on a single chopstick. All these years, it was as if she'd felt so guilty that she'd decided to punish herself for having a Quirk while Izuku didn't.

Lately, however, it was like that guilt was _finally_ starting to fade away. In the nearly two months since Izuku had been accepted into U.A., his mother had started to lose weight and seemed to have a bounce in her every step.

She didn't fret and pace about their home nearly as often, and wasn't as easily upset by small issues that would come up every now and again. She'd even mentioned that she spoke with Kacchan's mother a few days ago and that they'd made plans to have lunch together soon.

She was finally, _finally_ , showing signs of her old self – of the spark of life that used to define her as a person. Truly, the only aspect of his mother's life that didn't seem to be improving was her willingness to use her Quirk.

He wanted to help her, but how? And even if he could…did he even have the right to try?

If Izuku told her that he now had a Quirk, then it might help her to start using her own Quirk again. To think that it was a certainty, however…that would be foolish. It wouldn't be 'rational', as his new teacher would put it. Izuku understood that, even if he almost desperately hoped that it would all turn out well anyways.

He knew that, at best, telling her would present a _chance_ for his mother to get over the mental block that prevented her from using the gift she was born with. But what if that chance – which might not even have anything good come of it – came at the cost of her losing what progress she was making in the other aspects of her life? For her to go back to constantly worrying about him, possibly at the risk of her own health and happiness?

Could Izuku really justify telling her and easing his own guilt, while knowing that it would most likely increase his mother's burden? Did Izuku even have that right, with him being the reason she had stopped using her Quirk – and the source of most of her hardships – in the first place?

As his mother came back into the room and sat down to continue her meal, Izuku was still no closer to an answer now than he had been for the past few months.

"Izuku, honey? Is there something wrong?" his mother asked, voice tinged with concern. Something must have shown on his face, because she gave a slight frown. "You know you can always tell me if something is bothering you, right?"

He couldn't lie to her, he didn't want to keep hiding things from her, and he didn't want to worry her. Maybe it would be best to bring it up after all, now that she had presented the opportunity? He didn't have to tell her _everything_ , at least not without talking to All Might first. But maybe he could at least partially explain…? Gathering what little courage he could before he could change his mind, Izuku sat up a bit straighter in his chair and cleared his throat.

"I was just thinking…" Izuku began hesitantly. "Maybe it's time to…time for you, I mean…to learn about my Q–"

"I am… **HERE!** As a text message!"

Both Midoriya's jumped at the sudden explosion of noise, the familiar shout sounding out from Izuku's own pocket. Torn between feeling both thankful for the sudden interruption and yet guilty for being so quick to accept an excuse to postpone the conversation, Izuku muttered an apology to his mother and hurriedly brought out his phone.

There was only one person in his phone's contact list that was set with that particular ringtone (a ringtone All Might had recorded and set for him a few months ago as a sort of reward after a particularly grueling training session at the beach – a one-of-a-kind ringtone made just for him!) and he eagerly set upon reading the new message.

 _Young Midoriya! Congratulations on your magnificent display today during your test! I must confess that I was worried when I found out that your homeroom teacher was Aizawa, and decided to watch from afar. I needn't have worried! Not only did you pass, you even proved to me once more that I was right to choose you. Know that I am proud of you, young Midoriya! I look forward to having you in my class tomorrow!_

Izuku couldn't hold back the smile that found its way upon his face as he read the text from All Might – or "Yagi Toshinori", as he was listed in Izuku's contact list. They had both felt that it would be too risky for him to have "All Might" listed in his phone contacts, and so the man's real name was used. Just as the green-haired teen made to type a response, he then received a second message that wiped the smile right off.

 _P.S. – I'm not the only one you impressed! When I saw Aizawa after he returned from escorting you to see Recovery Girl, he seemed more fired up than I've ever seen him! Why, he seemed so inspired that he was in a rush to leave early to start his patrol! Whatever you said to him in the infirmary really did the trick,_ _ **ahahahahaha**_ _!_

Izuku went slightly pale after reading the second message, reading it a second time for good measure. He was certain that while he had induced many feelings within the Erasure Hero, inspiration almost certainly _wasn't_ one of them. He couldn't hold back a small wince, recognizing that if any Villain was unfortunate enough to run into an 'inspired' Eraser Head tonight…

Izuku was quite glad to not be in their shoes. He didn't want any more injuries today, thank you very much.

"Something wrong, Izuku?"

Izuku snapped out of his thoughts at hearing his mother's question, her voice warm but still holding a note of concern.

"Y-yeah! I mean n-no! Just a message from A-, err, from a teacher," Izuku said, mentally cursing himself for nearly slipping up. "Just an update about the test I took today. It seems I did pretty well," he added, giving her a somewhat stiff but hopefully reassuring smile. It was true – All Might certainly seemed to think he had done well.

"Oh, that's wonderful! I'm so proud of you, honey!" his mother said, her previous tone of concern forgotten and replaced with one of pride and affection as she started gushing about 'how proud she was of the man he was becoming'. She was practically glowing with how happy she was, the sight helping Izuku to relax and his smile to become more natural.

Taking advantage of his mother's distraction, Izuku decided it would be best to hurry to his room before she remembered that they'd been in the middle of a conversation before the text had interrupted them. He excused himself, claiming exhaustion from the long day. Which was also completely true – it had been far more nerve-wracking and exhausting than any first day at a new school had any right to be.

As he made his way to his room, Izuku looked back down at his phone for a moment before shaking his head and putting it back in his pocket.

 _I think I'll wait a bit before sending a response…how am I even supposed to explain what happened in the infirmary?_ Izuku wondered, briefly remembering the…eventful…visit.

Actually…maybe it was for the best for him to just remain quiet and let All Might believe whatever he liked about what happened in the infirmary. That was fine, right? After all, if he told All Might and then if his mentor should happen to let something slip the next time he spoke with Mr. Aizawa, then wouldn't the Erasure Hero (rightfully) blame Izuku? The green-haired teen got the distinct impression that his teacher would be rather…annoyed…should anyone learn of his little 'remedial lesson' with Recovery Girl.

 _Yeah…I think I'll stick with 'inspiration',_ Izuku thought firmly.

Once in the privacy of his own room, Izuku quickly changed out of his school uniform for a more comfortable pair of shorts and a white shirt that simply had "T-shirt" written across the front. He briefly considered doing his afternoon exercises despite his tiredness, but quickly decided against it once he remembered he was under orders to rest.

The memory of just how deeply those scalpels had been embedded into the _stone_ wall was far too fresh for Izuku to even consider disobeying the nurse of U.A.

That did, however, give him a considerable amount of free time this evening – something he hadn't really had for quite some time thanks to his intense training schedule. _I suppose I could browse the news for new entries into my Quirk Analysis notebooks,_ he thought idly. _It's been a while since I really took the time to find and analyze…new…Quirks…_

Izuku couldn't help the wide grin that slowly spread across his face.

After all, there was no need to search any news sites – hadn't he just spent the day witnessing a variety of amazing Quirks with his own two eyes? With an almost childish glee, Izuku quickly grabbed a fresh notebook from a nearby shelf and sat at his desk. He grabbed his favorite pen (a rather well-worn All Might themed refillable pen that was a precious gift from his 4th birthday, before he'd been diagnosed as Quirkless) and almost wrote the same title that adorned all his other notebooks – though this one would have been #55.

He hesitated for a moment, then nodded as he got up to retrieve a second notebook, this one also unblemished. Retaking his place at the desk, Izuku raised his pen and set upon the covers of each notebook. Leaning back in his chair, he smiled down in satisfaction at the two newly-titled notebooks.

 _Quirk Analysis – U.A. Students: Vol. 1_

 _Quirk Analysis – U.A. Teachers and Staff: Vol. 1_

* * *

 **Thanks for reading! Sorry that the first Heroics Class wasn't included in this chapter as I had originally intended, but if I had included it then it would have been well over 20,000 words for this one chapter. Bit too much, yeah? Also, I apologize if there are any formatting issues. I uploaded this chapter several times because the site kept butchering my format and removing words, for some reason. I think I caught them all and corrected them, but I might have missed one or two.**

 **Thanks to _WetsandwichesandTea_ for Beta Reading this chapter and helping with the pacing! **

**For anyone interested, Altruism now has a Discord server. Feel free to pop in at any time and say hello, chat, etc... the FF website is not allowing me to put the link here, so go to my profile if you want to get the link!**

 **Leave a review and let me know how I did in the comments!**


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